George Edwards

About The Artist

George Edwards, 1694 – 1773. Edwards was an English naturalist, an ornithologist, and known as “father of British ornithology”. He traveled Europe studying natural history, and became reputed for his colored drawings of birds and animals.

Edwards was appointed librarian to the Royal College of Physicians in London. He published History of Birds and Gleanings of Natural History in the 1760’s. They contained engravings and descriptions of more than 600 subjects in natural history not before described or delineated. He added a general index in French and English, which was afterwards supplied with Linnaean names. Additional writings include Essays of Natural History (1770) and Elements of Fossilogy (1776).