Description

Outstanding Aquatint Book: “Foreign Field Sports,” an early nineteenth-century aquatint book, includes a remarkable supplementary suite of ten plates depicting the life and customs of Australian First Nations people. This early issue, with watermarks dated 1811, features 100 hunting scenes from cultures worldwide, including Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas. The edition includes “Field Sports, &c. &c. Of the Native Inhabitants of New South Wales,” published by Edward Orme the previous year, with ten plates of Aboriginal hunting and ceremonial scenes.

Depictions of First Nations Life: The ten scenes are significant in early colonial Australian art for their good-natured and unprejudiced depictions of First Nations life, featuring smoking out possums, a kangaroo hunt, spearing birds on the wing, fishing from canoes, a native dance, painted warriors, men in single combat, and an idyllic night scene. Delicately hand-colored and expertly printed, these plates are considered the most attractive and sympathetic early British depictions of the native inhabitants.

Artist Controversy: While John Heaviside Clark signed the dedication leaf and plates, he was a commercial artist, not the original artist. Controversy surrounds the true identity of the Aboriginal studies’ artist. Wantrup argues for John Lewin, while Richard Neville disagrees based on stylistic and aesthetic considerations. Regardless of the artist, this was the first Australian colored plate book and the first separate account of the Aborigines.

Publication Quality: “Foreign Field Sports” exemplifies the quality of English color plate book publishing in the early nineteenth century, an era of technical and artistic excellence in professional hand-coloring techniques. The volumes were expensive at the time and took pride of place in private collections.