Antique Print-ANATOMY-TURTLE-TORTOISE-Panckoucke-1789

Subject: Pl. 2.: 'Histoire Naturelle.' (Natural History. Anatomy of a Turtle.) Copy of text page(s) available on request.
Condition:
Medium: Original etching and engraving on verge type hand laid paper. No watermark on this page. This plate was part of a book as described. Rear of sheet blank. Authenticity guaranteed.
Size (in cm): The overall size is ca. 20.5 x 29 cm. The image size is ca. 16 x 23.5 cm.
Size (in inch): The overall size is ca. 8.1 x 11.4 inch. The image size is ca. 6.3 x 9.3 inch.
Part Number: 17663
Location: (PCOMAN) C76-11
Description: This plate originates from the 'Cetologie' section of 'Tableau Encyclopedique et Methodique ...'. by M. L'Abbe Bonnaterre, 1789. This was part of 'Encyclopedie Methodique ou par ordre de matieres ....' published between 1782-1832 by Panckoucke. This encyclopedia is one of the most extensive of all encyclopaedias ever produced. It is in fact a much enlarged and re-arranged edition of Diderot and d'Alembert's famous Encyclopedie: 'Encyclopedie ou Dictionnaire raisonne des sciences, des arts et des metiers ...' which was originally published in folio under the direction of Diderot and d'Alembert, with 17 volumes of text and 11 volumes of plates, between 1751 and 1772. This encyclopdias were a massive reference work for the arts and sciences, as well as a means to propagate the ideas of the French Enlightment. The impact of this encyclopedias were enormous.

Artists and Engravers: Abbé Pierre Joseph Bonnaterre (1752-1804) was a French naturalist who contributed sections on cetaceans, mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and insects to the Tableau encyclopédique et méthodique. He is also notable as the first scientist to study the feral child Victor of Aveyron. Bonnaterre was priest in the Rouergue and professor at the central school of Rhodes. The publisher Panckoucke assigned him to contribute to the Encyclopédie méthodique, dealing with mammals, birds, reptiles, fishes and insects. He composed an extensive text for the part on fishes and availed himself of the works of most of the earlier authors and collected drawings of more than 400 species. He copied many of the drawings by Bloch and when these were not available he took them from the works of Gronovius, Broussonet, Pennant and others. When these authors failed him he even returned to the classics like Willughby, Rondelet and Piso. Charles-Joseph Panckoucke (1736-1798) was a French writer and publisher, notable for the Encyclopédie Méthodique. His partner was Henri Agasse, married to his daughter Therese-Charlotte, who finished the last 166 volumes after Charles-Joseph died. His son Charles Louis Fleury Panckoucke continued in the writing and publishing business as well. Robert Benard (fl. 1750-1785) engraved / etched most of the plates.