Leopold Fitzinger Antique Fish Prints Naturgeschichte Der Fische 1864

Leopold Josef Fitzinger (1802-1884) started in his chosen career path very early, at the age of 15, by taking an unpaid internship at the Natural History Museum of Vienna. He was charged with the re-organization of the reptile and fish collections at a time when the institution was transforming from a private royal collection to a scientific research institute. As funds were scarce, in 1821 he began to serve as the as secretary to the Lower Austrian legislature where he was also allowed to continue his work with the museum.

He made major contributions to science through his series of works on the classifications of reptiles, amphibians and mammals written from 1826-1861. In 1844, he was appointed to head the reptile and mammal collections at the Natural History Museum Vienna and received international recognition for his work in the field.

This beautiful series of prints of fishes formed part of a four-volume work on birds, fish, reptiles & mammals. It is a very rare work and we are pleased to present the fish prints from Bilder Atlas Naturgeschichte der Fische, published in 1864.

The lithographed prints are in excellent condition, on stiff creamy-white paper with each print measuring approximately 10 by 13 inches. Some are spectacularly hand finished with gold and silver for a stunning iridescent look that is hard to see in the images, but are very striking in person.