House Fly and Compound Eye Magnified, Antique Bertuch Print, circa 1805

This hand colored copper engraving of a fly under the microscope, with its body greatly magnified from above and below, a hairy leg, and the facets of its compound eye, comes from the Vienna edition of Friedrich Justin Bertuch's Bilderbuch, engraved by J. J. Schmuzer. It belongs to the Miscellanea series rather than the insects, being a lesson in what the microscope reveals.

The heading reads Verm. Gegenst., Miscellanea and Melanges, plate LXIII, and the mark at lower right reads X.B.34 beside the signature J. J. Schmuzer. A tiny fly in a circle gives the natural size; above it the insect is seen from below with its red eyes and folded legs, and from above with a green banded abdomen, while a single leg and a honeycomb of eye facets complete the plate. The fly appears to be the common house fly.

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 X, 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 a few small spots confined to the margins; the image is clean and finely detailed.

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