Psychedelic Fishes from the World’s First Encyclopedia of Marine Creatures | Hacker News Reader

Psychedelic Fishes from the World’s First Encyclopedia of Marine Creatures

brainpickings.org

21 pointsaleyan8 comments

Misleading title. They only have "psychedelic" color schenes, they are not psychoactive psychedelic fish.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallucinogenic_fish

> When a modern ichthyologist examined the book a quarter millennium after its publication, he determined that only about one in ten of the species depicted was drawn from the imagination; the rest were identifiable down to the genus, many even to the species.

This is fascinating. I skimmed the 500 MB PDF download of the 1754 book [1] and I can confirm that anyone familiar with the reef fish/animals of the Indo-Pacific (these are from the Spice Islands [2] in the Indonesian archipelago) can easily pick out individual species. I was surprised by the number of times the same species, according to my non-ichthyologist eyes, was repeated (e.g. Picasso Triggerfish and Rainbow Mantis Shrimp).

The artist was very good at capturing the shape and patterns of the animals (maybe not so good at grouping them by species). The colors seem to be more interpretive than realistic, probably because the fish were from local markets. Rather than being "psychedelic", some of the most spectacular colorings, such as the Clown Triggerfish [3], are depicted with bland colors.

[1] https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/200575#page/7/mode/...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maluku_Islands

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clown_triggerfish

I was disappointed the article didn't talk more about the mermaid. For anyone else like me interested in that, I found a high resolution version [1], transcribed the old-fashioned French and wrote a translation:

> 240. Monstre ſemblable à une Sirenne pris à la côte de l'isle de Borné ou Boeren dans le Departement d'Amboïne. Il étoit long de 59. pouces gros à proportion comme une Anguille. Il a vecu à terre dans une Cuve pleine d'eau quatre jours et ſept heures. Il pousſoit de temps en temps des petits cris comme ceux d'une Souris. Il ne voulut point manger, quoy qu'on luy offrit des petits poisſons, des coquillages, des Crabes, Ecrevisſes, etc. On trouva dans sa Cuve apres qu'il fut mort quelques excrements ſemblables à des crottes de chat.

> 240. Monster similar to a Siren [Mermaid] caught on the coast of the island of Borné or Boeren [I can't find these places in a modern dictionary. Maybe Borneo?] in the Department of Amboine. In length it was 59 inches and in size had the proportions of an eel. It survived on land [i.e. after it was caught] in a tank full of water for four days and seven hours. It made small cries like those of a mouse from time to time. It did not want to eat, whatever anyone offered it: small fish, shellfish [the French word refers only to molluscs], crabs, crayfish, etc. Several pieces of excrement similar a cat's were found in its tank after it had died.

1. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/50095192#page/220/m...

Is anyone familiar with color printing technology from 1678–1746? How were those color images printed?

FTA "populated by 460 individual hand-colored copper engravings"

I don't quite understand what a hand-colored copper engraving is. Does that mean that the entire image is composed of a bunch of separate perfectly overlapping hand-etched plates? How would you break up an image like that and line them up on separate copper plates by hand? The images seem too precise.

I believe it would be just one plate, that the colors would be painted onto individually.

https://www.antiqueprints.com/Info/engraving.php

I don't think it could work that way.

In printing with an engraved plate the ink is spread out over the engraving and then the surface of the plate is wiped with a rag.

The printed image is a result of the ink that remained in the etched grooves without being wiped off. I don't see any way you could mix colors on a single plate without it becoming a blurry mess.

I'm thinking maybe the outlines were printed in a single color and then the colors were hand-painted in the book itself, sort of like 'paint by numbers.'

https://www.finerareprints.com/blog-and-tips-about-antique-p...

I can't find anything about printing color with engravings pre-lithography other than 'they painted in the color.'

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