Set of 2 Elegant Antique Hand-Colored Fern Prints, Aspidium alpinum, 1806-1809

This is an original set of 2 antique hand-colored copper engravings of shield ferns, sold together, from Christian Schkuhr's survey of the ferns and fern allies printed at Wittenberg between 1806 and 1809. Aspidium alpinum on two sheets, Tab. 62 and the supplementary Tab. 62 b. The 2 sheets are Aspidium alpinum and Aspidium alpinum. They are the same size, printed from the same press and colored by the same hand, so they frame and hang as one group.

Schkuhr published this work himself at Wittenberg, in nine instalments between 1806 and 1809, as the fern volume of his treatment of the cryptogams. He drew, engraved and colored the plates, which is unusual: most botanical authors of the period handed their drawings to a professional engraver and a coloring workshop. The volume carries 221 plates numbered to 173 with lettered supplements, and is listed at Pritzel 8205.

Printed from a copper plate and colored by hand when it was published, the sheet shows the qualities that separate original hand coloring from printed color: the wash crosses the engraved line in places, the strength of the green changes across the frond, and the fine work on the spore cases is picked out in a browner tone over the engraving. The plate mark is visible in the paper. The plate is decorative as well as scientific. Early botanical engravings of ferns have been a staple of interior decoration since the Victorian fern craze, and an original sheet of this date, hand-colored and engraved by the botanist himself, carries considerably more weight than the later reproductions that fill the market.

Light uneven toning, browner towards the edges. Marked handling soiling along the edges of both sheets. Light foxing in the margins of both sheets. Slight wear at the corners of both sheets. Brown marks on one of the two sheets.

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