William Yarrell’s Great Auk Egg (“Yarrell’s Egg”)

William Yarrell (1784-1856), acquired in Paris or possibly Boulogne, c. 1815;

James Gardiner, purchased at Stevens' Auction Rooms from the estate of the above, c. 1856;

Frederick Bond, acquired from the above, c. 1856;

Louis d'Hamonville (1830-1899), acquired from the above, c. 1875;

Vauncey Crewe (1846-1924), purchased at Stevens' Auction Rooms, c. 1894;

"Mr. Hirch," purchased at Stevens' Auction Rooms, c. 1925;

A.T. Wilson, acquisition date unknown;

F.G. Lupton, acquisition date unknown;

Francis Charles Robert Jourdain (1865-1940), acquisition date unknown;

Vivian Hewitt (1888-1965), acquired from the estate of the above, c. 1940;

Jack Gibson (1926-2013), purchased from Spink and Son auction house, c. 1992-93;

Errol Fuller (1947- ), acquired from the above, 2008;

Acquired from the above by the present owner, 2010

Hewitson, William. 1831. British Oology; Being Illustrations of the Eggs of British Birds. Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK: Charles Empson.

Yarrell, William. 1843. A History of British Birds. London: John Van Voorst.

Grieve, Symington. 1885. The Great Auk, or Garefowl: Its History, Archaeology, and Remains. London: Thomas C. Jack.

Harting, J.E. 1894. “Great Auk’s Egg.” Nature 1271 (49): 432.

Parkin, Thomas. 1911. The Great Auk. A Record of Sales of Birds and Eggs by Public Auction in Great Britain, 1806-1910. Hastings, UK: Burfield & Pennells.

Jourdain, F.C.R. 1935. “The Skins and Eggs of the Great Auk.” British Birds 28 (8): 233–34.

Tomkinson, P.M.L., and J.W. Tomkinson. 1966. Eggs of the Great Auk. London: Trustees of the British Museum.

Fuller, Errol. 1999. The Great Auk. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc.

Clugston, David, and Errol Fuller. 2021. “Captain Vivian Hewitt and the Fate of His Collection of Birds’ Eggs and Specimens.” Biosys: Biological Systems 2 (3): 349–57.

Birkhead, Tim. 2022. Review of A Newsworthy Naturalist: The Life of William Yarrell, by Christine E. Jackson. Archives of Natural History 49 (1): 220.

Jackson, Christine. 2022. A Newsworthy Naturalist: The Life of William Yarrell. Oxford, UK: John Beaufoy.

Birkhead, Tim, David Clugston, and Errol Fuller. 2023. “The Dispersal of Vivian Vaughn Hewitt’s Collection of Great Auk (Pinguinus impennis) Eggs.” Archives of Natural History 50 (1): 191–206.