Grain Weevil Magnified Under the Microscope, Antique Bertuch Print, circa 1815

This hand colored copper engraving of a weevil, apparently the grain weevil, shown greatly magnified from above and from below beside a tiny life size figure, comes from the Vienna edition of Friedrich Justin Bertuch's Bilderbuch. The long snout, clubbed antennae and pitted wing cases are rendered on a scale that turns a pest of the granary into a striking image.

The heading reads Insekten LXX at left and Insectes LXX at right, and the middle heading is engraved Insects LXX rather than the usual Latin Insecta, a slip worth noting. The mark at lower right reads XV.B.15. The underside view is colored in a jewel like pattern of red, cream and dark brown, and the minute figure lettered A gives the true size of the insect.

The later volumes of the Vienna edition, published in Vienna under the title Bilderbuch zum Nutzen und Vergnügen der Jugend, continued the reprint of Friedrich Justin Bertuch's Weimar Bilderbuch fuer Kinder in volumes of fifty plates each, with German and French headings in place of the three languages of the earlier plates. The Weimar original, the great illustrated encyclopaedia for children issued by the Landes Industrie Comptoir from 1790 onwards, was followed subject for subject, and the plates were sold 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 XV, which places it circa 1813 to 1818.

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, faint show-through of text and a few specks in the margins; the two weevils are clean and vividly colored.

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