Termites and Termite Mound with Swollen Queen, Antique Bertuch Print, circa 1805

This hand colored copper engraving of termites and their towering mounds, with workers, soldiers, a winged adult and the grossly swollen egg laying queen, comes from the Vienna edition of Friedrich Justin Bertuch's Bilderbuch, engraved by J. X. Schmuzer. The mound is shown both whole, with its spired turrets, and cut open to show the chambers inside.

The heading reads Insecten, Insecta and Insectes, plate XVII, and the mark at lower right reads VI.B.15 beside the signature J. X. Schmuzer. A scale bar lettered in feet runs under the two mounds, underlining the astonishing size of the nests built by such small insects. The subject follows the eighteenth century accounts of African termites that fascinated naturalists of the day.

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 VI, 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, a small brown spot in the image above the left mound and a spot in the upper left margin; the coloring is fresh.

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