This hand-coloured etching and engraving of an owl is an unusual addition to a collection of images of owls amassed by poet and scholar Walter Strachan (1903-1994), being an 18th-century rather than a contemporary print. It is also one of the few works in Strachan's collection which was taken from a published book rather than being and autograph print or proof. It comes from the five-volume book Ornithologia methodice digesta atque iconibus aeneis ad vivum illuminatis ornata by Saverio Manetti (1723-1784). This ornate work took ten years to produce from 1767 to 1776 and was illustrated with 600 hand-coloured copper etched and engraved plates. Labels describing the images were mainly drawn from Brisson's nomenclature. Ornithology began to develop as a science in the 18th century resulting in elaborate books like this one. Peter Dance in The Art of Natural History: Animal Illustrators and their Work (1978), says of this book "The attitudes of the birds themselves give this book its unique character. Strutting, parading, posturing, and occasionally flying....are birds whose real-life counterparts would surely disown them, and not without reason, for Manetti seems in these pictures to be depicting the human comedy, the habits and mannerisms of contemporary Italian society. His book may still be rated among the very greatest bird books, if only for its magnificent comicality".

Strachan was fascinated by the art of the book. His interest was inspired by a visit to an exhibition of artists’ books at the National Gallery in London in May 1945. In due course he wrote many articles on the subject, as well as a major reference work, The Artist and the Book in France (published 1969); he also encouraged successive Keepers of the National Art Library at the V&A “to buy them for England.” To this end he visited France every year, to meet the artists, and acquired proof pages to illustrate his articles and to show to potential purchasers of the books, including the V&A. Over the years he amassed a collection of images of owls; some of these were illustrations from livres d’artistes, and others were designed especially for him as gifts or greetings. The collection of owls began with a visit to the artist Roger Chastel (1897-1981) in 1952, where he witnessed the printing of Le Bestiaire de Paul Eluard. In a subsequent article (“Genesis and Growth of a Collection”, for Connoisseur, 1972) he explained: “My article on Chastel’s Bestiaire had the happy result of bringing me a special print on Auvergne paper of the owl which I had admired in the book. Contacts in the art-world of Paris are close and friendly, and I was marked down as an owl-man, in consequence of which I have gradually been given dedicated owl prints and originals in every medium from pen and ink to enamel…”