Black Manucode (Manucodia Atra)

This stunning folio lithograph is from Daniel Giraud Elliot’s A Monograph of the Paradiseidae, or Birds of Paradise. The work was published in London by the Elliot for subscribers in 1873. Each originally hand-colored lithograph was done by J. Smit after Joseph Wolf’s illustrations and colored by J. D. White. “The plates in this work, almost as magnificent as the birds they portray, were the fruits of Elliot’s considerable wealth, Wolf’s great artistry, and both men’s profound knowledge and love of birds.” (Dance)

Elliot writes of the illustrations in his preface to the work: “The drawings of Mr. Wolf will, I am sure, receive the admiration of those who see them; for, like all that artist’s productions, they cannot be surpassed, if equalled, at the present time. Mr. J. Smit has lithographed the drawings with his usual conscientious fidelity, and in his share of the work has left me nothing to desire… In the colouring of the plates Mr. J.D. White has faithfully followed the originals; and in the difficult portions where it was necessary to produce the metallic hues, he has been very successful.”

Elliot’s lithographs are some of the most valuable American bird plates. Elliot was a prominent American zoologist. He was one of the founders of the American Museum of Natural History in New York and the American Ornithologists’ Union. Elliot was also curator of zoology at Chicago’s Field Museum.