Early European engraving

Early European engraving

The first illustration of a kiwi by a European appeared in George and Elizabeth Shaw’s The naturalist’s miscellany in 1813, based on a dried skin that had arrived in England the previous year. The result was a fanciful image with short legs and the upright stance of a penguin. This engraving is a copy of that image, and was published in Rene Primever Lesson’s Voyage autour du monde entrepris par ordre du gouvernement sur la corvette la Coquille (1838–39) .