Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
1888
Sheet size
27.7 × 18.8 cm (10.9 × 7.4 in)
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-14171-1 & BG-14171-2
What the condition grades mean
Excellent
Bright and clean, with no faults worth mentioning.
Very good
Only light signs of age, such as faint toning.
Good
Normal signs of age for a sheet of this period: toning, some foxing, small marks or neat old repairs.
Fair
Clear faults such as staining, tears or repairs, priced to match.
Every fault we see is written in the condition note, and the whole sheet is shown uncropped in the photos.
Condition
Both plates are in very good original condition for their age. Light and even age toning to the paper throughout. Minor scattered foxing visible, primarily in the outer margins.
About this sheet
Fossils and rock structures from the Dutch West Indies, a matched pair of original lithographed plates from Karl Martin's Bericht uber eine Reise nach Niederlandisch West-Indien, published at Leiden by E. J. Brill in 1888. The plates are headed "K. Martin, Niederlandisch West-Indien" and numbered "Tab. I" and "Tab. II", and they are printed in gray on a tinted ground.
Plate I shows numbered fossil specimens drawn at natural size: large pointed teeth, a curved fragment of bone, small teeth and shell-like forms, and a pair of ribbed bivalve shells at the lower right. Plate II shows fragments of coral and limestone with enlarged details of their internal structure, including honeycombed cells, concentric growth rings and fine grids, with some figures marked as magnified. The numbers beside each figure key the specimens to the text of the report.
Martin, a professor of geology at Leiden, traveled in the Dutch islands of the Caribbean and in Suriname, and his report was a scientific account of their geology. The plates are working illustrations of the material he collected, from the fossil-bearing limestones of the islands.
