Description
Very rare lithograph of the Emu.
Distribution: Mainland Australia.
First recorded by the early settlers in 1788.
First illustrated in Governor Phillip’s account of the colony in 1789, the bird was shot 2 miles from the settlement and sketch made of it by Ltn Watts. Keulemans was the most sought-after bird artist of the late19th and early 20th centuries.
This lithograph is from the last great bird series, The Birds of Australia by G.Matthew’s and is rarer than John Gould’s work on Australian birds, with only 225 sets done. It was the last series produced to use hand colouring rather than colour printed lithography for the illustrations.
