William Lizars: Plate 5 and Plate 7, Natural History of Beetles, 1835 (Set of 2)

These are hand-colored steel engravings by Scottish painter, engraver, and publisher William Home Lizars (1788-1859) for James Duncan’s ‘Natural History of Beetles’, which is part of Sir William Jardine’s ‘The Naturalist’s Library’ published in Edinburg in 1835.
 
Both pages have Lizars sc. At the bottom, sc. Meaning ‘engraved by’ which traditionally followed the engraver’s name.
 
Page 5 features four species of rove beetles from the family Staphylinidae. Plate 7 features five click beetles from the family Elateridae.
 
We can only presume our great grand aunts the Burr sisters or our grandmother intended to frame these as long as a century ago… They are in good vintage condition. Plate 5 has a slightly darker tone. Both have minor marks on the left edge where they were removed from binding. Both also have a slight crease on the left upper quadrant. 
 
The only other originals we found online are being offered by Stonegate Prints at $ 35 each.
 
H 6 3/8” x 3 7/8” each
 
Disclaimer: We have tried to make sure colors shown in photos are representative of the real colors of each item. We have tried to identify all imperfections in descriptions, but we may have missed some. If you are unhappy with your purchase, let us know.