Illustrations of the Family of Psittacidae, or Parrots is an 1832 book by Edward Lear containing 42 hand-coloured lithographs (example pictured). Lear started painting parrots for the book in 1830 when he was 18 years old, and to get material for his book he studied live birds at the London Zoo and in private collections. Although the book was a financial failure, Lear's paintings of parrots established his reputation as one of the best natural history artists of his time. It found him work with leading contemporary naturalists, and the young Queen Victoria engaged him to help her with her painting technique. Lear's works influenced children's illustrators such as Beatrix Potter and Maurice Sendak. He continued with his nature painting for some years, but from about 1835 he became concerned about his failing eyesight, and increasingly concentrated on his nonsense works and landscape painting. He may have contributed to the illustrations for Charles Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illustrations_of_the_Family_of_Psittacidae,_or_Parrots

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1396:

Ottoman wars in Europe: Ottoman forces under Bayezid I defeated a Christian alliance led by Sigismund of Hungary near present- day Nikopol, Bulgaria. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Nicopolis

1800:

French Revolutionary Wars: After U.S. ships became involved, French forces abandoned their invasion of the Batavian island of Curaçao. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Cura%C3%A7ao_%281800%29

1944:

Second World War: British troops began their withdrawal from the Battle of Arnhem in the Netherlands, ending the Allies' Operation Market Garden in defeat. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Arnhem

1981:

Sandra Day O'Connor became the first female justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandra_Day_O%27Connor

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

martial: 1. (comparable) Of, relating to, or suggestive of war; warlike. 2. (comparable) Connected with or relating to armed forces or the profession of arms or military life. 3. (comparable) Characteristic of or befitting a warrior; having a military bearing; soldierly. 4. (not comparable, astrology, obsolete) Pertaining to the astrological influence of the planet Mars. 5. (not comparable, astronomy, obsolete) Of or relating to the planet Mars; Martian. 6. (not comparable, chemistry, medicine, obsolete) Containing, or relating to, iron (which was symbolically associated with the planet Mars by alchemists); chalybeate, ferric, ferrous. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/martial

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.   --William Faulkner https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Faulkner