Paris, Denné le jeune, Perlet, [1801-] 1806. Single sheet. Very large folio (50.8 x 37.9 cm). Colour-printed by Langlois and Rousset, finished by hand.

A fine, copper-engraved plate, in very good condition, of one of the world's most spectacular birds, the yellow-throated Toucan ( Ramphastos ambiguus). This original plate is the work of one of the period’s foremost bird illustrators, the French artist Jacques Barraband (1767-1809). Barraband's works are esteemed especially for their realism. Although his illustrations were based on mounted specimens, they were considered the most accurate made during the early 1800s. His birds are never stiff, nor are they artistic rather than accurate, as in, for example, the work of Audubon. The yellow-throated Toucan from neotropical rain-forests occurs from Honduras to Peru. Known by ornithologists as Ramphastos ambiguus, the illustrated specimen has a feather colour resembling the subspecies swainsonii, with a paler (sometimes white) chest. It occurs from Honduras south to western Colombia, just reaching Ecuador. Originally published in a work by the French explorer and ornithologist François Levaillant (1753-1824), Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux de Paradis et des Rolliers, suivie de Celle des Toucans et des Barbus. Levaillant's book is known to be prone to foxing, but this plate forms a rare exception, with only some minor, mostly marginal spotting, otherwise, excellent, clean, the colouring lively and bright. Anker, 304; Nissen IVB, 559; Ronsil, p. 298; Sitwell, p. 118; Zimmer, p. 393.