Antique Original buy from Thomas Pennant (1726-98); FLYING MAUCAUCO Squirrel Quarto 23 cm engraving, hand coloured - Mammal

24 x 18 cm
Fine copper engraving. Later hand color.
Printed for Benjamin White, London and Chester (1768)
On fine ribbed paper from the rare quarto edition.
Thomas Pennant (14 June OS 1726 – 16 December 1798) was a Welsh naturalist, traveller, writer and antiquarian. He was born and lived his whole life at his family estate, Downing Hall near Whitford, Flintshire in Wales.
As a naturalist he had a great curiosity, observing the geography, geology, plants, animals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish around him and recording what he saw and heard about. He wrote acclaimed books including British Zoology, the History of Quadrupeds, Arctic Zoology and Indian buy Zoology although he never travelled further afield than continental Europe. He knew and maintained correspondence with many of the scientific figures of his day. His books influenced the writings of Samuel Johnson. As an antiquarian, he amassed a considerable collection of art and other works, largely selected for their scientific interest. Many of these works are now housed at the National Library of Wales.