Piscium

These striking and sometimes fanciful hand-coloured 18th century engravings were published in Germany in 1777 in a book called 'Piscium, Serpentum, Insectorum, Aliorumque Nonnullorum Animalum'.

The illustrations were produced by Nicholaus Eisenberger and Georg Lichtensteiger. As I was to discover, they had re-engraved in folio format images that originally appeared in Volume II of Mark Catesby's seminal work, 'The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands'.

Catesby's magnum opus was published in London in instalments between 1729 and 1743 and stands as the first comprehensive illustrated natural history work detailing the flora and fauna of America.

[click on any image for an enlarged view; very large versions are also available]

• The plates above were obtained from 'Piscium, Serpentum, Insectorum, Aliorumque Nonnullorum Animalum', online at the Botanicus website. (100 plates of fish, turtles, crustaceans, snakes and insects) [there's a few crustaceans and a couple more fish saved in this set at flickr]
• Better: Volume I and II of 'The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands' at the University of Wisconsin. (equally high resolution plates available : about 240 illustrations in total; it's a matter of taste as to any difference in illustration quality between the illustrations above and in this earlier work, and I'm not certain that every plate is identical to the later German edition {click 'Display gallery view' in the sidebar})
• Easier: 'The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands' [2nd Ed.] at NYPL -- smaller images but you can quickly scan through all of them.
• The Life & Works of Mark Catesby, America’s First Naturalist/Illustrator by Terrance M. Wright.
• Previously.

Following Catesby

'Verzameling van uitlandsche en zeldzaame vogelen :benevens eenige vreemde dieren en plantgewassen : in 't engelsch naauwkeurig beschreeven en naar 't leven met kleuren afgebeeld /door G. Edwards en M. Catesby. ; vervolgens, ten opzigt van de plaaten merkelyk verbeterd, in 't hoogduitsch uitgegeven door J.M. Seligmann ; thans in 't nederduitsch vertaald en met aanhaalingen van andere autheuren verrykt, door M. Houttuyn.' 1772-1881.

Drawn by G Edwards (after Mark Catesby), engraved by IM Seligman, JS Leitner et al. Available from the Botanicus website (there are three 'sets' of illustrations: general birds, parrots and animals; easily found from the drop-down menu in the margin).

The above selection and a few others have been saved in this set. These constitute probably a quarter or less of the total number of illustrations in the book. If you look closely, there are occasional eccentric additions to the design of the above pictures, beyond the usual 18th century stylising. Botanicus appear to have digitised a second copy of the same(?) work: see here.

Natural South Carolina

Original title: Live Oak; Ivory Billed Wood-pecker
Common name: Laurel oak; Ivory-billed woodpecker
Scientific name: Quercus laurifolia | Campephilus principalis




Original title: Magnolia or Laurel-Flower
Common name: Southern magnolia
Scientific name: Magnolia grandiflora*




Original title: Flying-Fish as large as life; Dolphin
Common name: Sailfin flyingfish
Scientific name: Parexocoetus brachypterus





Original title: Helisa; [Queen butterfly]
Common name: Milkweed; Queen butterfly
Scientific name: Asclepias [variegata?] | Danaus gillipus





Original title: Blue Jay; Crab Tree
Common name: Blue jay; Flowering crabapple
Scientific name: Cyanocitta cristata | Malus augustifolia




Original title + common name: Balsam Apple
Scientific name: Momordica balsamina or Momordica charantia




Original title: Locust; Red Bird
Common name: Black locust; Cardinal
Scientific name: Robinia pseudoacacia | Cardinalis cardinalis




Original title: Summer Drake
Common name: Wood duck
Scientific name: Aix sponsa




Original title: Sweet Scented Small Melon
Common name: Watermelon [?] {Or not}*
Scientific name: Citrullis vulgaris [?]




Original title: Trumpet Tree
Common name: Cow itch vine
Scientific name: Campsis radicans




Original title: Punchapau of East Florida or Oleander
Common name: Oleander
Scientific name: Nerium oleander

[click on any image for an enlarged version]

The Ethelind Pope Brown Collection of South Carolina Natural History at the University of South Carolina consists of thirty two watercolour sketches of flora and fauna from the South East United States, produced between about 1765 and 1775.

The series has been attributed at one time or another to such luminary natural history artists as John Abbott^[previously] and Mark Catesby^[previously], and although the true painter remains officially unknown, expert opinion now favours the sketches having been produced by a local amateur artist called John Laurens. [info]