Archibald Thorburn

A collection of limited edition titles by the acclaimed artist Archibald Thorburn F.Z.S (1860-1935), a Scottish artist renowned for his accurate sketches set against dramatic backgrounds. 

• Sold as a set of 8 volumes.
• Archibald Thorburn (English).
• British Birds; A Naturalists Sketch Book; British Mammals; Game Birds and Wild Fowl of Great Britain and Ireland.
• London: Longnan Green and Co, 1915-1923. 
• Large quartos.
• British Birds: 4 volumes, number 63 of 105, 82 plates (including the rare supplement containing 2 extra plates numbered 80a and 80b, bound in to the rear of volume IV.
• A Naturalist’s Sketch Book: number 66 of 105, 24 color and 36 collotype plates.
• British Mammals: 2 volumes, number 146 of 155, 50 color plates, text vignettes.
• Game Birds and Wild Fowl of Great Britain and Ireland: number 85 of 155, 30 color plates (all mounted on card) captioned and numbered, with tissues, with a letter from Sangorski & Sutcliffe re binding loosely inserted.
• Uniformly bound in contemporary red half morocco gilt with raised bands, spines lettered and dated in gilt, top edge gilt.

It was perhaps from his father (the miniaturist Robert Thorburn A.R.A.), that Archibald Thorburn acquired the ability to create his minutely detailed paintings and he sketched from a very early age. He painted birds, animals and flowers but specialized in the study of game birds.

Thorburn first exhibited at the Royal Academy at the age of 20, and was a regular figure there throughout the 1880s and 1890s. Latterly he became disillusioned with the Academy and exhibited instead at Baird Carter, in Jermyn Street. He was also sufficiently highly-regarded by his contemporaries to have been asked to paint Queen Victoria on three separate occasions.