About this sheet
This antique crocodile print shows a crocodile seen from above with its jaws open, together with a detailed study of its skull, on an original hand coloured plate from the Vienna edition of Bertuch's Bilderbuch headed Amphibien XXV.
The crocodile, numbered I, stretches across the upper half of the plate with its armoured back, crested tail and splayed feet. Below, numbered II, the skull is drawn with its long jaws opened in a V, showing the rows of teeth and the openings of the eyes and nostrils. The pairing of living animal and skeleton reflects the more scientific tone of the later volumes, and the restrained colouring gives the sheet a clean, anatomical look.
The plate comes from the Vienna edition of Bertuch's Bilderbuch, published in Vienna under the title Bilderbuch zum Nutzen und Vergnuegen der Jugend. Its source is the celebrated Bilderbuch fuer Kinder, the picture book for children conceived and edited by Friedrich Justin Bertuch in Weimar, whose plates were engraved afresh by Viennese engravers for this edition. Most plates carry their subject class and number in German, Latin and French across the top, so that the work could teach languages as well as natural history. Here the heading belongs to the series of amphibians, a class in which Bertuch, following the naturalists of his day, grouped snakes, lizards, crocodiles, frogs and even seals. The small engraved mark XII.B.11 places the sheet in volume 12 of the Vienna edition, which corresponds to the sixth volume of the Weimar original, dated 1807, so this Vienna plate cannot be earlier than that.
It is a copperplate engraving, coloured by hand with watercolour in the manner of the Weimar original. Bertuch drew his images from the best natural history books of his time, and the result is a lively, accessible record of how the natural world was understood around 1800. Single plates from the Bilderbuch are popular with collectors of antique natural history prints, and a group of related plates makes a handsome display in a study, library or hallway.
The sheet is in good condition for its age, with light toning, a few spots and a small chip at the lower left corner well clear of the image.
This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed.
