Set of 9 Antique Prints of Various Handcolored Fish Species

€ 1 750

Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)

Sheet size: 23.4 × 15.3 cm (9.2 × 6.0 in)
Condition: Good
Reference: BG-13214-20 +8

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

General age-related toning. Minor wear and soiling. With original protective sheet attached. Blank verso. Please review the images for further condition details.

About this sheet

Nine plates of fish from the Dictionnaire universel d'histoire naturelle, edited by Charles Henry Dessalines d'Orbigny and published in 1861. Each is a hand-colored engraving headed "Dict. Univ. d'Hist. Nat." and "Poissons", with the species named in French and Latin at the foot.

Most plates carry two or three fish, arranged one above another with a pale outline sketch of a skull or fin detail beside them. The set includes red and pink fishes with spiny fins, a perch, red gurnards, a striped butterflyfish, brilliant yellow and black reef fish, an eel above a flatfish, a mullet and a trio of coastal species, and an elongate fish with a bright pink stripe and long pink fins. The color is richest in the reef species, which show orange, yellow and blue against the pale paper.

D'Orbigny was a French botanist and geologist who identified many of the flowering plant species returned to France from his brother's collecting journeys through South America.