Description
Description of Gmelin's Gemeinnützige systematische Naturgeschichte Based on Bloch
These beautiful hand-colored fish engravings are from the work entitled Gemeinnützige systematische Naturgeschichte der Fische für gebildete Leser nach dem Linnéischen Natursystem entworfen by Carl Christian Gmelin published in 1818. In studying natural history, is was quite common to rely on the field experience of others, and even reuse drawing and engravings of those who'd researched animals and fish very closely. As it is with this work. Gmelin was the director of the botanical gardens Karlsruh and this is his only notable role in zoology. The engravings of fish in work were borrowed from the library of the well-known ichthyologist Marc Bloch. The coloring of this work, especially these fish, is outstanding and commonly features metallic hues which accent the subjects superbly. They are on very nice chain-linked paper which measures ~ 7 3/4" by 4 3/4".