Venom & Vibrance: A Study of European Vipers & North American Copperheads, 1780

€ 200

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

Date: 1780
Sheet size: 13 × 21 cm (5.1 × 8.3 in)
Condition: Good
Reference: BG-13674-23

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

Condition is good. Lower margin cut short. Overall toning and other small incorrections due to age and handling over a few hundred years. Please review the images for further condition details.

About this sheet

Two snakes on a hand-colored copper engraving, dated 1780 and captioned in German. The lettering reads "1. die gemeine Otter. Coluber Berus Lin." and "2. die Kreuzotter, Kupferschlange, Coluber Chersea Lin.". The sheet carries the credits "I. E. Ihle del." and "L. C. Bock fc.", the draughtsman and the engraver.

Each snake is drawn full length in a sinuous curve against the plain ground of the page, with a flicking tongue and a yellow eye. The upper one, number 2, is a coppery brown with a dark zigzag band running down its back and a darker head with a V-shaped mark. The lower one, number 1, is silvery gray with a row of dark bars across the body and a spotted neck, the scales shown in a fine net. Both are named according to the Linnaean system, with the old genus Coluber that Linnaeus used for most snakes.

The plates come from a German natural history of the late eighteenth century.