554 
A BIBLIOGBAPHY OF 
[SOWERBY 
descendant of an old Border family through the Yorkshire 
branch, and his wife Arabella. He became a student at the 
Boyal Academy, and was an articled pupil of Bichard Wright, 
the marine painter. In his early years he was a teacher of 
drawing and a portrait painter. The practice of flower- 
painting led him to the study of botany, a subject in which 
he soon excelled. Among his earliest work in this connection 
were the plates he drew in 1787 for W. Curtis’s Botanical 
Magazine. The first volume of his own great work, English % 
Botany (36 vols. and Suppl. 4 vols., 1790 - 1849 ), appeared 
in 1790 , and the work in its revised editions is still a standard 
one. He published many other works on botany and 
conchology, still in demand and scarce on account of their 
excellent hand-coloured plates, but of these the only one 
relating to our subject is the under noted. 
He died at his residence in Lambeth, October 25 , 1822 . 
A son, James de Carle Sowerby ( 1787 - 1871 ), followed his 
father’s profession and executed plates for many works of a 
similar nature. 
1804-6. The | British Miscellany : | or | Coloured Figures ] of | new, rare 
or little known | Animal Subjects ; | many not before ascertained 
to be inhabitants | of the British Isles ; | and | chiefly in the 
possession of the author, | James Sowerby, F.L.S. | Yol. I, | 
London, | mdcccvi. | 
Twelve parts only were issued, the first five each containing 
4 plates, and the last seven 8 plates each. Comprising Vol. I. 
136 pp., coloured plates 1 to 60 ; Vol. II. 31 pp., coloured plates 
61 to 76 (unfinished). The wrappers were dated as follows : 
No. 1, — 1804 ; No. 2, Jan. 1805 ; No. 3, Feb. 1805 ; No. 4, 
March 1805 ; No. 5, April 1805 ; No. 6, June 1805 ; No. 7, 
August 1805 ; No. 8, Oct. 1805 ; No. 9, Dec. 1805 ; No. 10, 
Feb. 1806 ; No. 11, June 1806 ; No. 12, August 1806. 
Note . — The birds include the Harlequin Duck, Bed-necked 
Phalarope, Bee-eater, G-lossy Ibis, Ferruginous Duck, Scaup 
Duck, and Little Grebe, the last four as supposed varieties 
under other names. Of the first issue, Vol. I. is generally only 
met with. The stock was acquired later by Mr. Quaritch, who 
reprinted the title (omitting the “ Vol. I.”) and also the index to 
include the portion of Vol. II. 
