Credit: © The Royal Society
Image number: RS.9585
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Figure of the Dodo
Date
1848
Object type
Library reference
R65401
Material
Technique
Dimensions
height (print): 54mm
width (print): 72mm
width (print): 72mm
Subject
Content object
Description
Study of the Dodo, [Raphus cucullatus], the extinct flightless bird from Mauritius. The bird appears within a landscape with what appears to a shell, perhaps implying its diet. Printed with a motto from Horace: “Pes et Caput uni Reddentur formae.” Commented upon by Hugh Edward Strickland (1811-1853): “This highly ludicrous representation is more like a Fighting-cock than a Dodo...”
Title page vignette and p.62 from The Dodo and its kindred; or the history, affinities, and osteology of the Dodo, Solitaire, and other extinct birds of the islands of Mauritius, Rodriguez and Bourbon, by H.E.Strickland and A.G.Melville (London, 1848).
Redrawn from an edition of Journael van de achtjarige avontuerlijcke Reyse van Willem Ysbrantsz Bontekoe van Hoorn, gedaen nae Oost-Indien published by Gillis Joosten Zaagman (Amsterdam, ca.1646?).
Title page vignette and p.62 from The Dodo and its kindred; or the history, affinities, and osteology of the Dodo, Solitaire, and other extinct birds of the islands of Mauritius, Rodriguez and Bourbon, by H.E.Strickland and A.G.Melville (London, 1848).
Redrawn from an edition of Journael van de achtjarige avontuerlijcke Reyse van Willem Ysbrantsz Bontekoe van Hoorn, gedaen nae Oost-Indien published by Gillis Joosten Zaagman (Amsterdam, ca.1646?).
Associated place