page_title: A History of British Birds (Yarrell book)
section_title: Illustrations
hierarchical_section_title: A History of British Birds (Yarrell book) / Illustrations
caption_attribution_description: English: Thompson signature Del et Sc in Yarrell History of British Birds 1843. Most of the woodcuts in the book were drawn by Alexander Fussell, but this one (the Black Redstart) and a few others were both drawn and engraved by the engraver John Thompson (or one of his sons).
context_page_description: William Yarrell's A History of British Birds was first published as a whole in three volumes in 1843, having been serialized, three sheets every two months, over the previous six years. It is not a history of ornithology but a natural history, a handbook or field guide systematically describing every species of bird known to occur in Britain. A separate article of about six pages, containing an image, a description, and an account of worldwide distribution, together with reports of behaviour, is provided for each species.
  It quickly became the standard reference work for a generation of British ornithologists, replacing Thomas Bewick's book of the same name through its increased scientific accuracy, but following Bewick in its mixture of scientific data, accurate illustrations, detailed descriptions and varied anecdotes, as well as in the use of small 'tail-piece' engravings at the ends of articles. This made the book attractive to the public as well as to specialists.
context_section_description: Alexander Fussell created most of the drawings for the book. Yarrell thanks Fussell in his Preface for "nearly five hundred of the drawings on wood here employed", and John Thompson (1785–1866) and his sons for the "very long series of engravings" of the drawings. He also thanks his printers, Messrs. Bentley, Wilson and Fley for their care and skill. The pen for the remaining drawings, if any (the title page asserts there are 520 in the book), is not stated. As well as the figures of birds, there are 59 tail-pieces (following Bewick, small woodcuts to fill in the spaces at ends of articles), of which some are whimsical, like Bewick's, but many illustrate anatomical details, especially breastbones and windpipes, and others, although decorative, realistically depict aspects of bird behaviour or human interaction with birds. For example, the tail-piece for the "Jack Snipe" shows a bittern among reeds, swallowing a frog, while that for the "Common Bittern" shows "a mode of shooting an Eagle from a pit".
  Fussell's work began in 1837 and continued for six years. Many of the drawings were from skins or stuffed specimens, though every bird species is illustrated with a lifelike drawing of the bird standing (or rarely, flying or swimming) in a natural setting. Additional drawings depict nests, feathers, and details of bird anatomy including feet, breastbones, and windpipes. Simon Holloway suggests that Fussell and the engravers Charles Thompson and sons probably made all the illustrations for the first three editions of Yarrell's Birds. Only in the fourth, rewritten edition of 1871–85 were illustrations by other artists (Charles Whymper, J. G. Keulemans, Edward Neale) added. Some of the bird figures, such as "The Snowy Owl" and "Richard's Pipit" in Volume 1, are signed "A. FUSSEL DEL." (A. Fussel drew this), but most are entirely unsigned. Some few, such as "The Black Redstart" and "The Common Cuckoo", are signed "THOMPSON DEL ET SC." (Thompson drew and cut this), so in these cases Fussell was not involved.
caption: Rare signature "Thompson Del et Sc" on his work, the black redstart
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