$110,000
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This stunning volume with 100 originally hand-colored engravings is Mark Catesby’s Piscium Serpentum Insectorum aliorumque nonnullorum animalium nec non plantarum quarundam imagines quas Marcus Catesby in posteriore parte splendidi illius operis quo Carolinae Floridae et Bahamensium insularum tradidit historiam naturalem. Eivsqve appendice descripsit Additis Vero Imaginibvs Pisivm Tam Nostrativm Qvam Aliarvm Regionvm avervt Vivisqve Coloibvs Pictas edidervnt Nicolavs Fridiricvs Eisenberger et Georgivs Lichtensteger. This work features the entirety of the second volume of his Natural History of the Carolinas, Florida and the Islands of the Bahamas. It is the first German edition published in Nuremberg in 1750 by Joannis Joseph Fleischmann.
The volume is bound in contemporary calf with elaborately gilt floral borders on both covers, spine with floral urns in compartments. The volume depicts fishes, reptiles, insects and some other animals and plants of the New World. There are 100 exquisitely hand-colored engravings.
Catesby described and illustrated thirty-five different kinds of amphibians and reptiles in his book. Thirty-two of these are recognized to-day as distinct species Mark Catesbys ability to distinguish different species of animals was exemplary. He rarely illustrated or gave different names to animals that have not been recognised by later specialists to be valid species? Statistically, this is a far better record than almost every other naturalist who has worked in North America up to the present day. Catesby was indeed a gifted and careful observer of nature (Kraig Adler. Catesbys fundamental contributions to Linnaeuss binomial catalogue of North American animals, published in The Curious Mister Catesby).
Mark Catesby was the first American naturalist and illustrator. Though born in England in 1682, Catesby spent several years of his life in the colonies studying the natural flora and fauna. He was so fascinated he produced the first color plate, natural history work on American flora and fauna. One of the signatures of Catesbys work is that it incorporates plant and animal life on the same page. Combining the flora and fauna was to save time and money but also began a new style of print composition.
Catesby set out to illustrate all the plants, birds, fish, and reptiles in America. His work greatly contributed to the natural sciences of the 18th century. Hunt describes the work as: “the most famous color-plate book of American plant and animal life, and a fundamental and original work for the study of American species. Engravers could not be afforded to get the work to print, so Catesby studied under Joseph Goupy where he learned how to etch the plates himself. The result of his dedication is this wonderfully detailed and informative work which gave a detailed view of the natural world of America.
Catesby’s work was also the first to abandon the Indian names for his subjects, trying to establish scientific names based on generic relationships. Linnaeus used Catesby’s work as the basis for his system of binomial nomenclature for the American species.
“Mark Catesby made a valuable and important contribution to ornithological illustration. He was confident enough to break new ground – to portray his birds more naturally than before, with foliage backgrounds, and to adopt the folio format. He depicted the natural history of one area in its entirety, and often drew from living models … AS HIS WAS THE EARLIEST PUBLISHED NATURAL HISTORY OF A PART OF THE NEW WORLD, HE HAS BEEN CALLED THE FATHER OF AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY.” (Jackson)
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