This feels completely otherworldly to me and I can't stop looking at it. The copperplate engraving is by Fredrick Nodder, from George Shaw's renowned The Naturalist's Miscellany (1789-1813; this plate 1790)--but it is the hand-coloring that makes this one especially special, and singular, here not one but two iterations of applied watercolor. I know from the dealer I purchased this from that the specific volume it came from featured annotated endpapers dating the owner's additions to 1859 or prior: it was they who watercolored the background, and inked a frame around the perimeter, and added the hand-written "sea anemone" label below, and maybe amped up the color a bit elsewhere too. Such that it winds up feeling at least as much a watercolor as an engraving. And what color! Delicate and lush at the same time, making these anemone look like sugar-loaded confections in the window of a French bakery and also a bit like fantasy architectures in a surrealist landscape. Oh the wonders of the world. This is radiant and strange and stunning.
(The Naturalist's Miscellany was a monumental 24-volume work, known for its wide range of birds, reptiles, insects, quadrupeds, sea life, and botanicals. The prints are highly sought after for their extremely decorative and whimsical nature. Fredrick Nodder was the engraver for most of the work. George Shaw was a doctor, Fellow of the Royal Society, co-founder of the Linnean Society, and a zoologist of the British Museum. )
8 5/8" x 5 5/8". Very good condition, all the better in hand.
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