Exquiste-if you think that the colors are a trick of the camera, allow me to assure you that these pictures do not do this hand colored print justice.  Prints from Edward Donovan’s wonderful Naturalist's Repository, published in 1823, are prized for the artistry and composition of each print, and the exotic beauty of the prints with their fine, intense hand coloring. Donovan drew the subjects from his own museum & the collections of such famous scientists as Sir Joseph Banks & Drury. As a wealthy prominent naturalist, Donovan had entree to all the great collections of the time.

It was his use of costly coloring paints, including gold and silver dust to perfect irridescence, as well as the economic downturn after the Napoleanic war which caused the limited number of prints.