Rare 1806 Shaw & Nodder Hand-Colored Fish Engraving #538 CUKOO WRASSE, LABRUS For Sale

Rare 1806 Hand-Colored Copperplate FishEngraving from:\"THENATURALIST’S MISCELLANY:or, COLOURED FIGURES OF NATURAL OBJECTS;DRAWN AND DESCRIBED IMMEDIATELY FROM NATURE.\"
786 TRIMACULATED LABRUS(Cuckoo wrasse, Labrus mixtus, Labrus trimaculatus)
From the coveted volumes of Shaw & Nodder\'sNaturae Vivariior \'The Naturalist’s Miscellany...\' comes this scarce hand-colored engraving, a gem of natural history illustration & the printmaker\'s art.
This listing is for the one print from the above work: No.786 TRIMACULATED LABRUS,Labrus trimaculatus
Also included is are text pages in English & Latin.

These very beautiful & charming prints seem to have become very scarce. Engravings from \'Shaw & Nodder\' became sort of collector\'s cult classics. The hand colored plates in this work are prized by collectors for their artistic qualities and are becoming increasingly harder to find as the supply vanishes.

The publication: The Naturalist’s Miscel­lany was published in monthly installments from August 1789 through July 1813. Each installment featured three—later four—engraved and beautifully hand-tinted plates, along with descriptions in Latin and English.

Famed naturalist George Kearsley Shaw (1751-1813) collaborated with Frederick Polydore Nodder (1770-1800) who was responsible for the distinctive illustrations in the Naturalist’s Miscellany.

The epic project was dedicated to QueenCharlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1744–1818) wife of King George III from 1761 until her death in 1818. For reference, included in the photos is a facsimile of the title-pages & dedication from a volume on the BiodiversityHeritage Library\'s website.

The Naturalist:George Shaw was Keeper of Natural History in the British Museum & a founding member of the Linnaean Society. He produced a number of massive works on natural history and related subjects, including General Zoology in 14 volumes, the lavishly illustrated Cimelia Physica, and Museum Leverianum in two illustrated volumes.

The Artists:Frederick Polydore Nodder was responsible for the distinctive illustrations in the work. Nodder was an English flora and fauna illustrator; also an accomplished copperplate engraver.Frederick Nodder must have died in 1800 or 1801. For a short while after his death, the engraved signature showed his wife, Elizabeth’s name instead. Many were also done by Frederick\'s son, Richard Nodder, such as this one.Richard exhibited at the Royal Academy and became botanic painter to King George III.

The drawing & coloring in this little gem are lovely. It\'s a beautiful plate, full of the passion that the early natural history painters & engravers.

Every part of these prints was made by hand: Hand drawn & engraved on Copper which was hand-mined, smelted & rolled, printed onto handmade cotton rag paper, inked & colored with hand-ground pigments individually by hand, & they were usually hand sewn into handmade leather-bound books.

Condition: Appears to be in superb condition as these go, with the typical age character of an engraving over 200 years old. The hand-coloring appears to remain sharp & brilliant as the day it was painted.

These prints are very old & may have minor imperfections expected with age, such as some typical age-toning of the paper, oxidation of the old original watercolors, spots, text-offsetting, artifacts from having been bound into a book, etc. Please examine the photos & details carefully.

Text Page(s): This one comes with original text pages.

About this creature:

• The cuckoo wrasse (Labrus mixtus) is a species of wrasse native to the eastern Atlantic Ocean from Norway to Senegal, including the Azores and Madeira
• It is also found in the Mediterranean Sea. They occur in weedy, rocky areas mostly between 40 and 80 m (130 and 260 ft). This species is an occasional food fish for local populations but is also popular as a game fish. It is also a popular fish for display in public aquaria
• The name cuckoo wrasse comes from Cornish fishermen who associated the blue markings with bluebell flowers. In the Cornish language, a bluebell is bleujenn an gog, literally \"the cuckoo flower\"
• The cuckoo wrasse was formally described by Carolus Linnaeus in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae published in 1758, Linnaeus gave the type locality as \"Liburnia\", which is modern Dalmatia, Croatia

Size: 9 x 5-1/2\" inches approximately.

Shipping: Multiple prints combine into one USPS Flat-Rate envelope. If you\'d like to combine & need more time to choose, please send a message & we\'ll do our best to oblige. If you\'re assessed multiple shipping for one combined package, we\'ll endeavor to refund any overage asap.

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