Which part? I am having a hard time taking a photo without bad reflections on the glass. I need advice on reframing and rematting it and I can't get a good shot of it. I'll have to try again.

The pencil scribble is less than a quarter inch high. It might just be the name of the book from which it's taken. I took it out of the frame to see if there was a printer or any info under the mat and there isn't--but it does look like it was removed from a book. Should have taken a photo before I put it back together!

For orientation, the penciled stuff I can't read is on the bottom right. The print is about 10"x12". The brown mat is icky--maybe it used to be more red. Any suggestions on a mat color to keep this guy from being depressing? Perhaps white bottom mat and green on top?

I like his attitude even though it's not a Great Piece of Art. It's fun. I'm going to hang it up. But it bugs me to not be able to read the scribble!

Well it's a picture of a bird of paradise...if you can make the scrawl say that....Take it to a frame store and try different color mats and see what makes it look "friendly"...thinking maybe white would bring out the white in the tail feathers..
It's great....I don't suppose you can make it say "Audobon" do you?
Latin word for paradise is paradisidae.....can you make that out?
And if it's 12 by 10 it's not likely from a book but more likely a set of prints. Google bidr print artists and see if you can find those initials....and it's most likely 1847.

You need to put a spacer so that the glass does not touch the print. There is special glass that will help prevent fading. When I had it used on a print for my husband a long time ago it was expensive but the print shows little fade.

I agree that the picture is probably from a large portfolio perhaps from the 1800's to 1920's. Unless the information on the bottom is in pencil it was probably printed that way. Start looking for what kind of bird it is and you may find a portfolio that it was taken from with the names. Some of these were printed then colored by others so you could have both the sketcher and colorists names.

Yep, the text right under the stem is the bird's common name (in German). I guess it doesn't have to be from a German book, though. It is in pencil, along with whatever the other scrawl. I thought there would be a printer's name or plate number or something under the mat like you often see on wildlife lithos but there isn't.

I will get it framed properly--it was framed properly but I think its time is up. :)

Thanks!

vogel is bird in German .... perhaps the first part is paradise for paradisebird ... rot is red

Fori— You might try posting the signature in the Typography Guru website’s Font Identification Forum.

And you may also find this post on 500 Years of German Handwriting to be helpful.

;)

Oof. I didn't realize there was a handwritten version of blackletter. I've just been calling that "messy". :)

I can't help, but have to say what an amazing find! Post again when you reframe, pls. It's gorgeous!

Thanks Oly I was looking for chicken art for my kid and this was described as "Oriental style rooster". Hmmmm. Not quite!

Artists do take liberties but that beak is not of a chicken so that should have provided a good chuckle. When I searched I discovered this is the Lesser Bird of Paradise. I was puzzled because it did not match most of the pictures that came up in a random search. https://www.britannica.com/animal/bird-of-paradise

I think it is intended to be a red one, and not the lesser. Of course, the label pushes me that way. :) Whatever it is, it's not quite anatomically right and might not have come from one of those old nature books.

You might want to study the insignia to the left of the title. It seems to be the initials of the artist with the 47 below. Does it look like JGH or N? Love the picture.

I can't make that out either, Voila. And it's probably the more useful mark as it's part of the original print!

I think the inscription at the bottom says "Roses Purniss Royal" or equvalent. Date 1947 at a guess as was typical of early mid 20thC artists to abbreviate the date/year. 19thC artists more often than not would inscribe the full year. Artist unknown but with pencil inscription and signature I would say much more than a standard print, more a hand carved and tinted block print?

Well, it definitely says Roter Paradiesvogel, i.e. red paradise bird.

Moreover, the handwriting looks like post 1940s cursive but with some Sutterlin thrown in.

It's something like Drotzmann or Drossmann (with the German sz letter)

Actually, you noticed the 47 at the end of the signature, right?

You surely know it appears from the close up to be a hand colored litho...in the manner of Currier and Ives and very probably dates from about that same period. And the artist may not necessarily be German, in the 19th century, German and Latin were the languages of science, so it would not be unusual for the name of the bird be in German while the artist was not

I've been looking at some old nature prints and it seems that these things always have their relevant information printed on them and not scrawled on the page with pencil. Name of animal is prominently centered, publisher tucked away in small print. This doesn't have either.

I'm guessing that the pencil marks were probably not made by anybody associated with the actual print and possibly were made by the guy who decided to frame it and noticed it didn't have the typical information IDing the critter. Maybe that info was on the next page.

But I dunno. :)

sounds logical.....but they are old....not 1940's.

1847? I came across a bunch of exotic bird books from the 1800s.

But I have to say that the German handwriting isn't in a script that's that old. As I said I think it's a mix of pre and post 1940s German cursive.