Exhibitions
Historia Naturalis Ranarum Nostratium -
August Johann Rösel von Rosenhof
Nuremberg: J.J. Fleischman, 1758
* V3 [Rösel von Rosenhof] Extra large folio
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August Johann Rösel von Rosenhof (1705-1759) received his early training as an artist. Perusal of Merian’s Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium while ill in Hamburg in 1728 inspired him to do a similar study of German insects. From insects he proceeded to frogs as shown (1753-8). The great detail in which Rösel von Rosenhof’s work describes the natural history of amphibians may entitle him to be called the father of herpetological natural history. The illustrations, considered the best pictures of frogs ever produced, have been duplicated ever since their first publication. Each of the 48 plates appears both in black and white with labels, for scientific clarity, and in colour without the labels, to satisfy the writer’s artistic bent.
