There are 21 pencil and watercolour sketches of birds, some crudely finished, six of which are endorsed 'drawn from nature by R. Read Snr.' and dated 1820. In February 1963 Dr Averill Lysaght asserted that at least some of the pictures were copied, or even traced, from Latham's 'General synopsis of birds' (see Lysaght's letter in RCMS 296/3). The remaining pieces include pencil drawings of fruit; capitals and entablatures; a scene from the 'Iliad'; a seated nude man; and a coastal scene, probably of Sydney Heads. There is also an unfinished pencil and watercolour portrait of a man; a watercolour portrait of a young man, mounted on a board, signed 'R. Read 1832' (later than any known work by Read Senior); and six coloured lithographs of Sydney.