Antique Natural HistoryOriginal plates from the naturalists' books, 1600s to 1900s
Set of 9 Antique Prints of Various Handcolored Fish Species
Set of 9 Antique Prints of Various Handcolored Fish Species, view 2
Set of 9 Antique Prints of Various Handcolored Fish Species, view 3
Set of 9 Antique Prints of Various Handcolored Fish Species, view 4
Set of 9 Antique Prints of Various Handcolored Fish Species, view 5
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Set of 9 Antique Prints of Various Handcolored Fish Species, view 7
Set of 9 Antique Prints of Various Handcolored Fish Species, view 8
Set of 9 Antique Prints of Various Handcolored Fish Species, view 9
Set of 9 Antique Prints of Various Handcolored Fish Species, view 10

Close-ups

Set of 9 Antique Prints of Various Handcolored Fish Species, close-up 1Set of 9 Antique Prints of Various Handcolored Fish Species, close-up 2

Framed and on the wall

Set of 9 Antique Prints of Various Handcolored Fish Species, shown framedSet of 9 Antique Prints of Various Handcolored Fish Species, shown framed on a wallSet of 9 Antique Prints of Various Handcolored Fish Species, shown framed in a room

Frame and rooms are illustrations of how the print could look; the description says what is included.

Set of 9 Antique Prints of Various Handcolored Fish Species

£1,485 ($1,960, €1,750)

Period original, not a reproduction.

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Shipped from the Netherlands, flat, insured and tracked, worldwide. Returns accepted within 14 days.

Date
Not stated
Size
9.2 × 6 in (23.4 × 15.3 cm)
Condition
Good. General age-related toning. Minor wear and soiling. With original protective sheet attached. Blank verso. Please study image carefully.
Section
Fish and shells
Reference
f_34632222

Nine plates of fish from the Dictionnaire universel d'histoire naturelle, edited by Charles Henry Dessalines d'Orbigny and published in 1861. Each is a hand-colored engraving headed "Dict. Univ. d'Hist. Nat." and "Poissons", with the species named in French and Latin at the foot.

Most plates carry two or three fish, arranged one above another with a pale outline sketch of a skull or fin detail beside them. The set includes red and pink fishes with spiny fins, a perch, red gurnards, a striped butterflyfish, brilliant yellow and black reef fish, an eel above a flatfish, a mullet and a trio of coastal species, and an elongate fish with a bright pink stripe and long pink fins. The color is richest in the reef species, which show orange, yellow and blue against the pale paper.

D'Orbigny was a French botanist and geologist who identified many of the flowering plant species returned to France from his brother's collecting journeys through South America.