18thc Botanical hand coloured copper engraving Lacercus Sweet Gum Tree Mark Catesby 1683-1749 GC4A

Description: Original copper engraving hand coloured on watermarked paper. MC initialed below right. "Lacercus" Green Lizard of N.Carolina / Sweet Gum Tree. Styrax Aceris Folio plate T.65.
Mark Catesby 1683-1749 "English Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands". Published London, 1731-43. Vol. II first edition.
In 1712, the English-born artist and naturalist Mark Catesby embarked on a series of expeditions to the southern colonies of British North America. Catesby was enthralled by the wildlife of the New World, and he spent years traveling by foot through parts of present-day Virginia, Georgia, the Carolinas and the Bahamas. Over the course of his journeys, he encountered and documented uncountable varieties of animal and plant life that were entirely unknown to Europeans. His drawings and written observations were the raw material for an unprecedented project: a scientific account of previously uninvestigated wildlife, with illustrations taken from life.
Measurements: Sheet; 20 x 14. Site; 10 1/4 x 14"
Condition: Margin toning, chips, top and bottom creasesand tears.
Provenance: Prominent Virginia estate.