From an edition of Gottlieb Tobias Wilhelm’s Unterhaltungen aus der Naturgeschichte (Discourse of Natural History), 1795 to early 1800s. This rare German natural history is well illustrated with delightful copper plate engravings. My selection includes exotic-looking birds. The plates are signed in the stone “JJ Schmuzer” or “JJS.” The complete Natural History series included 27 volumes. Jakob Schmuzer appears to have used an X as his middle initial in some volumes of this work. Wove paper, 4.5 inches by 7 inches, some with watermarks.
These small but charming prints were from a single collector, and include in the margins old prices, a blind stamp (LIBRIS MW), and a red ink stamp with initials MW outside of the plate mark. Additional stamps appear on the backs of some prints. In overall very good condition, some prints show their age in the form of moderate soiling, handling creases, bending or chipping on edges and corners and the occasional small stain. Some retain faint ghosts of penciled notations (usually in the margin) and old prices. Please review the scans at full size. Beautiful hand-coloring.
