Black and blue titmouse – Zwart-blaue mees; G. Edwards / J. Seligmann – 1760 ca.

Description

Details

• Type: natural history print, ornithology
• Title: Die schwarztz und blaue Meisse. Picus niger et caeruleus / Le Mesange noire et bleue / Tab. XL.
• Technique: cupper engraving, hand coloured
• Illustrator: George Edwards / Johann Seligmann
• Engraver: Johann Michael Seligmann
• Author: –
• Date: 1749-1776
• Published in: Recueil de Divers Oiseaux Etrangers et peu Communs (..) by Johann Michael Seligmann in Nuremberg
• Size print: 29.5 x 21.5 cm (11.6 x 8.5 inches)
• Size paper: 41.0 x 25.0 cm (16.1 x 9.8 inches)
• Verso: blank
• ID: M2790 V
• Source: Nissen 177, Nissen 858, Landwehr 180

Condition: A

Very good, given age. General age-related toning and/or occasional minor defects from handling. Side margins somewhat frayed.

Zeer goed, voor een gravure van deze leeftijd. Een enkel vlekje in beeld. Zijmarges wat rafelig.

Backgrounds

Johann Seligmann (1720–1762) created this wonderful folio work featuring the art of both George Edwards (1694 – 1773) and Mark Catesby (1683 – 1749). Entitled Sammlung verschiedener auslandischer und seltener Vogel, the rare work features beautiful engravings and original hand coloring. Seligmann re-engraved the plates of both Edwards and Catesby. The work was published by J. J. Fleischmann in Nurmberg between 1749 and 1776.

Seligmann began issuing his ambitious series just a few years after Edwards and Catesby published their works. The text was translated into German and French. Seligmann produced all new plates based on the images of the two Englishmen. In bringing these masterworks to the continental audience, Seligmann has earned himself a place in natural history circles, and his charming prints, reflecting well on their sources, stand as another respected source for 18th-century natural history documentation.

Mark Catesby was a well-known naturalist born in England in 1682. He spent 10 years of his life in the American colonies observing the native species of plants and animals. After returning to England, he dedicated the next 20 years to producing the first English, all-inclusive study of American natural history, Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and Bahama Islands. The first edition was published in 1731. Catesby was the first to incorporate plant life and birds on the same page. Because Catesby was too poor at the time to hire engravers, he studied under Joseph Goupy, learning to etch plates himself to save money and ensure accuracy. The result is this wonderfully detailed work featuring hundreds of American species, giving the Old World the opportunity to catch a glimpse of the World beyond. Catesby is referred to as ‘The Father of American Ornithology’ and his Natural History was the first to depict the flora and fauna of the new world.