Two Large Exotic Moths, Antique Bertuch Print, circa 1815

This hand colored copper engraving shows two large moths, one with pale wings marbled in black and brown, the other with smoky blue gray forewings banded in black and a long coiled proboscis, on a plate from the Vienna edition of Friedrich Justin Bertuch's Bilderbuch. The two species have not yet been identified with confidence, so the plate is described here by what can be established. The specific subject is not yet established and is being checked against the Bilderbuch text.

The heading reads Insekten, Insecta and Insectes, plate LXIX, across the top, and the small mark at lower right reads XV.B.8, the eighth plate of the fifteenth Vienna volume. Both moths are drawn from above with wings spread, the upper one with a heavy striped body and feathered antennae, the lower one with a banded body picked out in red and yellow. The color is laid on with care and the fine hatching of the scales is still crisp.

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 from the reverse and a few small marks in the margins; the two moths are clean and crisp.

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