Edinburgh in the opening decades of the nineteenth century was a vibrant centre of ornithological enquiry and image-making. Most prominent among the city’s ‘tribe’ of ornithologists were Sir William Jardine (1800–1874) and Prideaux John Selby (1788–1867), whose series Illustrations of ornithology ([1826–1843]) spanned nearly two decades. Containing over two-hundred hand-coloured plates depicting mostly rare or newly-discovered bird species, the Illustrations comprised two series, four volumes and nineteen parts. This article explores the different mechanisms for chromatic depiction, description and standardisation employed in Jardine and Selby’s work. It approaches Illustrations of ornithology as a collection of elaborately-coloured and aesthetically-motivated units of image and text, whose commercial success depended on both chromatic accuracy and life-like execution. Excavating the various iterations of the work, including manuscript pages and the preserved specimens themselves, the discussion unpicks the different iterations of colour embodied in its letterpress and plates. In doing so, it reveals the scientific, aesthetic, commercial and imperial agendas underpinning Jardine and Selby’s Illustrations.
- Feathered hordes and winged gems: colour and vitalism in Jardine and Selby’s Illustrations of ornithology (1826–1843)
- Joyce Dixon - University of Greater Manchester, School of Arts and Creative Technologies
- Archives of Natural History, Vol.53(1), pp.101-118
- Edinburgh University Press
- 9967116208841; 0260-9541; 1755-6260; 1755-6260
- This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Edinburgh University Press in Archives of Natural History. The Version of Record will be available online after publication at: https://doi.org/10.3366/anh.2026.1028
- School of Arts and Creative Technologies
- English
- Journal article
- 01/07/2026
- 07/12/2025