These hand colored octavo engravings by Marcus Elieser Bloch are from his massive Ichthyologie, published in Berlin in 1796. A former physician, Bloch is responsible for editing what has long been considered the most important collection of fish published in the eighteenth century. The illustrations of German fish are generally accurate - those of foreign fish far less so. Like many others of his period, he relied on descriptions from travellers and other naturalists, resulting in somewhat imaginative renderings, no less decorative for their lack of accuracy. Size(in): 4.5 x 8
