(There are many sites which have posted photos of the collection. But, I took my own partly to keep a record of what I saw and liked - I also took photos of the descriptive logs below the illustration - and partly to test out a non-flash environment for my camera.)
For more information on the collection, this site on the AMNH's website is a useful start.
More links and information along the way may provide what you might wish to obtain.
The best thing, of course, is to visit this marvelous place. And make sure the research library is open when you get there.
Curiously Colorful Fish
The following information was obtained from the American Museum of Natural History online catalog.
Title: Three species of fish with engraved text from Renard's Poissons, écrevisses et crabes
Medium: Engravings
Coverage: Moluccas, Indonesia
Rare books: Asia, Fishes, Fishes -- Pictorial works, Ocean life
Publisher: American Museum of Natural History Research Library
Artist: Renard, Louis, b. ca. 1678
Department / Discipline: Ichthyology
Collection Name: Rare Book Collection
Note: Natural Histories: Extraordinary Rare Book Selections from the American Museum of Natural History Library: 1. De Groot Tafel-visch (additional descriptive text in french): 2. De Spits-Neus (additional descriptive text in french): 3. Ican Suangi (additional descriptive text in french)
Author: Renard, Louis, b. ca. 1678
Book Title: Poissons, écrevisses et crabes, de diverses couleurs et figures extraordinaires, que l'on trouve autour des isles Moluques et sur les côtes des terres australes :peints d'après nature durant la régime de messieurs Van Oudshoorn, Van Hoorn, Van Ribeek & Van Zwoll, successivement gouverneurs-généraux des Indes orientales pour la Compagnie de Hollande
Imprint:Amsterdam: Chez Reinier & Josué Ottens, 1754
Date of Publication: 1754
Language of Publication: French
Call Number: RF-74-F
Bibliographic Number: b10715216
Description of Publication: 2 v. in 1 ([14] p., 43 leaves of plates; [6] p., LVII leaves of plates) : chiefly col. ill. (459 figs.) ; 42 cm. (fol.)
View this book in the library catalog: http://libcat1.amnh.org/record=b1071521
Here is the information describing the illustrations of "colorful fish" provided by the museum:
Fish, Crayfish and Crabs of Diverse Colors and Extraordinary Forms
Author: Louis Renard (1678-1746)
Illustrator: Samuel Fallours (active 1706-1712,
and other local artists
Imprint: Amsterdam, 1754
Two volume work illustrated with
100 hand-colored, engraved plates
Dreary tropical fish? Sounds like an oxymoron.
But when Europeans saw collections of preserved
tropical fish in the 1700, their colors had long
since faded away and they resembled familiar, drab-colored,
local fish.
No wonder the work of Louis Renard was so exciting.
Renard collected and published fantastically colored
and boldly patterned images of fish and
crustaceans from the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia).
Artists included Dutch East India Company
soldier Samuel Fallours and anonymous locals
The Dawn of Malacology
The following information was obtained from the American Museum of Natural History online catalog.
Title: Voluta magnifica (Cymbiola magnifica) from Martini's Neues systematisches Conchylien-Cabinet
Medium: Engravings
Rare books: Aquatic invertebrates, Shells, Shells -- Pictorial works, Mollusca
Publisher: American Museum of Natural History Research Library
Collection Name: Rare Book Collection
Artist: Unknown
Original Caption: Voluta magnifica
Author: Martini, Friedrich Heinrich Wilhelm, 1729-1778
Book Title: Neues systematisches Conchylien-Cabinet
Imprint: Nürnberg : Bey Gabriel Nikolaus Raspe, 1769-1829
Date of Publication: 1769-1829
Language of Publication: German
Call Number: 14-A
Bibliographic Number: b10657605
Description of Publication: 12 v. in 13 : col. ill. ; 30 cm.
View this book in the library catalog: http://libcat1.amnh.org/record=b1065760
Here is information close to the display "Voluta magnifica" provided by the museum:
In the late 1700s Friedrich Heinrich Wilhelm Martini,[Photos By: KPA]
a German physician and devoted shell collector,
set out to describe and illustrate all mollusk species.
His work was cut out for him: estimates indicate that
there are more than 100,000 species. Martini did not
fulfill his dream, dying after only the third volume
of descriptions. Johann Hieronymus Chemnitz, a German
clergyman, continued his work. Unfortunately, the authors
did not adopt the binomial naming system introduced by
Linnaeus in 1758, rendering the series less scientifically
useful than it might have been.
The shells are beautifully illustrated
and scientifically accurate.
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Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat
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