Eagles including the Bald Eagle, Antique Bertuch Print, circa 1805

This antique bird print from Bertuch's Bilderbuch shows six eagles and large birds of prey, among them the white headed bald eagle of North America. The heading reads Vögel V and the plate is inscribed as drawn and engraved by Jacob Xaver Schmuzer above the Vienna mark I.B.34.

Figure 1 is a great dark eagle with wings raised and beak open on a rocky outcrop, figure 2 another large brown eagle, figure 3 the bald eagle with its white head and yellow bill, figure 4 a heavy eagle with a pale bill and figure 5 and 6 smaller raptors on branches. The eagle plates were among the most admired in the Bilderbuch, and this one comes from the very first volume of the work. The inscription stating that Schmuzer both drew and engraved it is unusual in the series and adds to its interest.

Friedrich Justin Bertuch (1747 to 1822) began his Bilderbuch fuer Kinder in Weimar in 1790 as a picture encyclopaedia for young readers, and over four decades it grew to almost 1,200 plates on plants, animals, peoples, antiquities and the sciences. Its success led to other editions, and this sheet comes from the Vienna edition published by Anton Pichler as the Bilderbuch zum Nutzen und Vergnuegen der Jugend, with text in German and French. The Vienna plates were newly engraved after the Weimar originals, keep the Weimar subject numbering in a heading in German, Latin and French, and carry a volume and plate number in the lower margin, here the mark I.B.34. Vienna volume I follows Weimar volume I, which appeared in 1790 to 1792, so this plate was published no earlier than that. The plate is inscribed Gezeich. u. Gest. von Jacob Xaver Schmuzer, meaning drawn and engraved by Jacob Xaver Schmuzer, the Viennese engraver. The plate is a copper engraving with original hand color, as the Vienna volumes were issued colored.

A bird plate like this suits a study, library or hallway, and several sheets from the Bilderbuch hang well together in a matching row. For a collector of ornithological prints it is an affordable and characterful example of early nineteenth century natural history teaching.

The sheet is in good condition for its age, with even toning, show through of text from the reverse and a small stain beside figure 5; the image is otherwise sound.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.