Shaw & Nodder — Marine Invertebrates Suite of Four Plates on Vellum, Naturalist's Miscellany, 1789-1798

An exceptional curated suite of four original hand-coloured engravings on genuine vellum from George Shaw and Frederick Polydore Nodder's The Naturalist's Miscellany, published in London between 1789 and 1798.

This is the rare deluxe vellum issue of the Naturalist's Miscellany. The original 1789 subscription notice invited "the nobility and gentry, who may wish to have the plates taken on vellum, are requested to signify their pleasure to Mr. Nodder." Very few subscribers chose this premium option, and complete vellum suites of any kind from the Naturalist's Miscellany are essentially unobtainable on the modern market — Trillium Antique Prints, Franklin TN, who have specialised in the publication for decades, describe the appearance of vellum impressions as the first they have seen in 30 years in the business.

The four plates in this suite:

• Venus Coral (Plate 14, December 1789) — The fan-shaped gorgonian coral specimen in deep magenta, with starfish detail. From one of the very first issues of the entire 24-year publication run.
• Kidney-Shaped Pennatula (Plate 139, 1798) — Two specimens of sea pen shown in dorsal and ventral aspect
• Sea Life (Plate 215, 1798) — Holothurian (sea cucumber) with the radial tentacle crown extended
• Esculent Echinus (Plate 223, 1798) — A spectacular pairing of a spined sea urchin and its denuded test, with reference to Horace and the Roman epicurean tradition

All plates retain their original hand colouring with the exceptional saturation that vellum permits — the colours sit on the surface rather than absorbing in, producing a depth and luminosity unattainable on paper. Accompanying multilingual descriptive text leaves are included on standard paper, as was the convention for the deluxe vellum issue.

George Shaw (1751-1813) was Fellow of the Royal Society, co-founder of the Linnean Society, and zoologist of the British Museum. Frederick Polydore Nodder (1770-1801) was an English illustrator, engraver, painter, and publisher, contributing also to Joseph Banks's Florilegium and Thomas Martyn's Flora Rustica.

Format: Four engravings on vellum with separate text leaves on paper, approximately 5.5 by 9 inches each
Date: 1789 and 1798
Place of Publication: London (F. P. Nodder, 15 Brewer Street)
Condition: Good to excellent. Vellum causes natural rippling inherent to the medium.

This is a museum-grade institutional-tier acquisition. Accompanying documentation available on request.