Flea and Louse Under the Microscope, Antique Bertuch Print, circa 1805

This hand colored copper engraving of the flea and the louse, both greatly magnified as under the microscope, comes from the Vienna edition of Friedrich Justin Bertuch's Bilderbuch, engraved by J. X. Schmuzer. The plate is known to dealers simply as Floh und Laus, flea and louse, and it remains one of the most striking of the Bilderbuch's microscope subjects.

The heading reads Insecten, Insecta and Insectes, plate VII, and the mark at lower right reads IV.B.10 beneath the signature J. X. Schmuzer. The flea fills the upper half in glowing amber and chestnut, its legs spread and bristling, with its larva, pupa and magnified eggs around it, while the louse below is drawn in gray with its clawed legs and its eggs, the nits, shown enlarged on a hair.

The Vienna edition was published by Anton Pichler under the title Bilderbuch zum Nutzen und Vergnügen der Jugend, with German and French text, in volumes of fifty plates each, and its plates were newly engraved in Vienna, many of them by the brothers Jacob Xaver and J. J. Schmuzer. It follows the Weimar original of Friedrich Justin Bertuch, the great illustrated encyclopaedia for children issued by the Landes Industrie Comptoir from 1790 onwards, subject for subject, and it was sold with the plates colored by hand. The small mark at the foot, giving the Vienna volume and plate number, is what distinguishes these sheets from the Weimar issue. As a copper engraving colored by hand for a teaching book, it combines scientific ambition with a direct, appealing clarity. This sheet comes from Vienna volume IV, which places it circa 1801 to 1807.

A plate like this suits a study, a library or a collection of early natural history, and it hangs well in a group with other Bertuch insect and microscope plates, where the variety of subjects and the consistent format of the series come into their own.

The sheet is in good condition for its age, with light toning and some spotting and small stains in the left margins; the flea and louse are clean and strongly colored.

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