2-888-369 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The First of September - the Luncheon - drawn by Duncan, 1850. 'A shooting party, resting from a grateful toil, has betaken itself to the russet shelter of an ancient beech and the savoury contents of an ample pannier...The time is about noon, and "sitting in a pleasant shade" a social group of men and dogs is seen discussing a luncheon alfresco, on "the 1st of September, near Reading". [Here] we are told..."is a very fruitful district, producing grain in great abundance."..is not that the sort of place where one might expect to meet with the sample of ornithology most sought after in September? Calm and impassioned as may be the outward semblance of the man, he has a world of agreeable emotion within...Full of life and energy, with a purpose as steady and unflagging as his bodily frame, the sportsman advances, beating closely and carefully field and meadow...'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.