Publisher/Manufacturer: David Esslemont Series title: Birds (plate 8)
1984 Wood engraving in black, with letterpress in grey, on white BFK Rives Velin Cuve paper
67 x 80 mm. Purchase: David Esslemont 1991 Funding support: Catherine Lewis Trust
Illustration from 'Birds' (1984), a book printed by David Esslemont from some of the original wood blocks of Thomas Bewick's two volume 'A History of British Birds' (1797 and 1804). 'Birds' was printed on a Columbian Press and published in a limited edition of 250 copies. The original wood block was used by Bewick in 'Water Birds', Volume Two of 'A History of British Birds'. Lesser Imber is an archaic name for the Black-throated Diver. Bewick's illustration depicts the a young specimen of the species.