Within Australia
All orders ship freewithin Australia
Rest of the World
Orders over A$300
ship free worldwide
C1789
The Laced Lizard
Artist:
Sydenham Teast Edwards (1768 - 1819)
Modern binomial name Varanus varius First described Shaw 1790 THE LACED LIZARD. Genus CXXII. Lacerta.–Lin. Sist. Nat. “This most elegant species is in length, from the nose to the end of the tail, about forty inches: in the mouth are … Read Full Description
$A 175
S/N: VTBB-REPT-279-BW–217986
(C079)
Free Shipping
See Shipping page for Terms & Conditions
Details
Full Title:
The Laced Lizard
Date:
C1789
Artist:
Sydenham Teast Edwards (1768 - 1819)
Condition:
In good condition
Technique:
Copper engraving.
Image Size:
255mm
x 190mm
AUTHENTICITY
Genuine antique
dated:
1789
Description:
Modern binomial name Varanus varius
First described Shaw 1790 THE LACED LIZARD. Genus CXXII. Lacerta.–Lin. Sist. Nat. “This most elegant species is in length, from the nose to the end of the tail, about forty inches: in the mouth are a few weak teeth, though rather sharp, at about a quarter of an inch distance one from another: the tongue is long and forked: the general shape is slender and the ground colour of the skin, on the upper parts, a brownish or bluish black, whimsically marked with golden yellow in some parts this colour is beautifully mottled or freckled, like some kinds of lace-work in others, striped in various directions, particularly on the legs, which seem as if striped across with black and white: the under parts are yellow, crossed with single bars of black on the chin and throat, and double clouded ones on the belly: the toes are five in number on each foot, barred across with black and yellow, as the legs, and each furnished with a crooked black claw: the tail measures more in length than the whole of the body towards the base, clouded and marked as the rest but the further half banded with black and yellow, each band three inches broad, the end running to a very sharp point. This beautiful Lizard is not uncommon at Port Jackson, where it is reputed a harmless species. Individuals vary much one from another, in respect to the length of the tail, as also in the colour of the markings some having those parts marked with a pure silvery white, which in the above described are yellow.”
From Governor Phillip’s, Voyage to Botany Bay
Biography:
Sydneham Teast Edwards (1768-1819)
Initially worked for Curtis’s Botanical Magzine, until a dispute with the publishers when he started his own rival magazine The Botanical Register.
He was born in Monmouthshire, a from an early age demonstrated a precocious talent for drawing and when only 11 years old had copied plates from Flora Londinensis. A friend of William Curtis, the publisher visited the Edwards and recommended the boy to Curtis. Curtis proceeded to have Edwards trained in both botany and botanical illustration. Edwards was a prolific talent and between 1787 and 1815 he produced over 1,700 watercolours for Curtis’sBotanical Magazine. He established The Botanical Register in 1815 after a disagreement with John Sims, Curtis’s editor.
