Edwards was a painter and illustrator. His pictures of animals appeared in many publications of the era.
He was also a naturalist and ornithologist, known as the "father of British ornithology".
“Gleanings of natural history”,was a mutli-volume publication. This engraving is from volume 2, and was published in 1760. It was drawn, engraved and coloured by Edwards.
Edwards was born at West Ham, then in the county of Essex. In his early years, he travelled extensively through mainland Europe, studying natural history, and gained a reputation for his coloured drawings of animals, especially birds. He was appointed as beadle to the Royal College of Physicians in 1733.
Over a period of 21 years, Edwards published seven volumes containing descriptions and hand-coloured etchings of birds. In a few cases, he depicted other animals.
None of the species were native to the British Isles. The first four volumes were published between 1743 and 1751 with the title "A Natural History of Uncommon Birds."The three subsequent volumes were published between 1758 and 1764 with the title "Gleanings Of Natural History." The volumes contain a total of 362 hand-coloured etchings of which 317 depict birds. The etchings were all based on drawings or paintings by Edwards.
His drawings also appeared in other publications of the era, for example, Joseph Christian Daniel Schreber's "Animal Illustrations after Nature", published in 1775.
