Fantail Print from Buller's Birds of NZ

NZ Bird Print

Image size in millimetres: 210 x 300

Published by Wellington print publisher Thorndon Fine Prints. Owner Seb Page wrote a note on the origins of this image when it was re-printed from an original rare lithograph in his collection: “Sir Walter Lawry Buller (1838 - 1906), The Fantail (Rhipidura Fuliginosa). Known by Maori as Piwakawaka or Tiwakawaka after the grandson of Maui, one of the Maori ancestors who arrived in NZ by waka. It has been said that the war dance, haka, owes something of its action to the challenge of the Fantail as it spreads its tail feathers. Although primarily a forest bird nowadays the Fantail is a familiar sight in many doemstic settings, even entering houses in pursuit of insects, the mainstay of their diet. The first Europeans to record the sighting of the Fantail were the naturalists accompanying Captain Cook on his first voyage of discover to New Zealand in 1769. This print has been reproduced from Sir Walter Lawry Buller’s second edition of A History of the Birds of New Zealand published in 1888. Born in New Zealand, just prior to European colonisation. Buller became a judge in the Maori Land Courts, but he was better known for his achievements in the studies of New Zealand birdlife and the publications of books on the subject. In 1873 he combined with the talents of naturalist and artist J. G. Keulemans to publish the first edition of A History of the Birds of New Zealand - thirty six handcoloured lithographs representing the birds native to New Zealand. The second, published in two volumes, is an outstanding example of the printer’s art. Also illustrated by Keulemans it contains 50 plates and was originally issued in thirteen parts.”

The Fantail from Buller’s Birds of NZ is listed for sale in these collections at New Zealand Fine Prints:

John Keulemans Prints from Buller’s Birds of NZ
Bird Prints