Description:
Very good copy of the first edition of "one of the finest works on fishes."Complete with 120 beautiful copperplate engravings, drawn, engraved and coloured by the author. Donovan made his drawings from recently caught fish, most while they were still living. The text often describes the location the fish was caught: the ocean sunfish, Mola mola, was "an elegant little specimen caught near the coast of Brighton."
Depicts several endangered species such as the Atlantic bluefin tuna, Thunnus thynnus, and Atlantic halibut, Hippoglossus hippoglossus, and the critically endangered European sturgeon, Acipenser sturio, and angelshark, Squatina squatina.
"The paint is laid on so thickly that is frequently impossible to see the engraved lines underneath. The already rich colour is heightened with burnished highlights, albumen overglaze and metallic paint."
Complete five volumes bound in two (1,2 and 3,4,5),
Edward Donovan (1768-1837) was an Anglo-Irish naturalist and the author and illustrator of a number of… Read More