Birds from my Homeland; With Notes from W. H. Hudson's "Birds of La Plata"
New York: Antonio Frasconi / Idal Rudenko, 1958.
Limited Edition. Hardcover.
#139 of 200 numbered copies signed by the artist Antonio Frasconi (1919-2013) and printed in the autumn of 1958 in New York by Igal Roodenko. All the woodcuts are printed from the original blocks and hand-colored by the artist on hand-made Hosho paper from Japan. Frasconi's parents were of Italian descent and moved to Uruguay during World War I. Frasconi moved to the U.S. in 1945 where he became a woodcut artist, children's book author and illustrator, and art instructor.
A series of ten beautiful hand-colored woodcuts of migratory seashore birds beloved by the artist as a youth on the Rio de la Plata in his native Montevideo, Uruguay, and as an adult watching similar birds on Long Island Sound. Descriptions of the birds are excerpted from W. H. Hudson's "Birds of La Plata" previously published by E. P. Dutton in 1920.
Birds included:
Bienteveo, Bienteveo Tyrant
Hornero, Red Oven-Bird
Calandria, Argentine Calandria Mocking-Bird
Churrinche, Scarlet Tyrant
Tijereta, Scissor-Tailed Tyrant
Teru Teru, Spur-Winged Lapwing
Chingolo, Chingolo Song-Sparrow
Siete Vestidos, Blue and Yellow Tanager
Chaja, Southern Crested Screamer
Pirincho, Guira Cuckoo
11-1/8 x 8-1/2", grey paper over boards with a pattern of birds in flight in black, tan endpapers, unpaginated, double leaves of hand-made paper folded at fore-edge, preface by the artist, 10 full-page hand-colored woodcut illustrations, hand-colored figure on title page and two additional black and white figures in text.
Very good condition overall with toning and edge-wear to paper over boards, a few small stains front board, a few spots of internal foxing and a bit of offsetting from illustrations to text pages, clean of owner's marks, tight, woodblocks are bright and clean and vivid.
Price: $1,000.00