William Home Lizars

Lizars was first apprenticed to his father, from whom he learnt engraving, and then entered as a student under John Graham in the Trustees' Academy at Edinburgh, where he was a fellow-student with Sir David Wilkie.

[2] In 1812, on the death of his father, Lizars had to carry on the business of engraving and copperplate printing in order to support his mother and family.

So began an intense period when Lizars helped Audubon meet Edinburgh luminaries likely to be useful to him: Robert Jameson, David Brewster and James Wilson in particular.

Lizars had a celebrated portrait of Audubon painted (it is now in the White House), by John Syme, in his wolfskin coat, in late November; and the following day took him to meet George Combe and other phrenologists.

[9] Lizars perfected a method of etching which performed the easy functions of wood-engraving in the illustration of books.

In the years 1833-43 he published The Naturalist's Library, a series of 40 volumes which was edited by Sir William Jardine.

[2] He designed notes for the Bank of Scotland, and is thought to have created the emblem for Scottish Widows adopted in 1818.

[13] He engraved The Ommeganck at Antwerp, after Gustave Wappers, for the Royal Gallery of Art, and Puck and the Fairies, after Richard Dadd.