Etchings after Mark Catesby & George Edwards

Birds of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands

In 1749, German publisher Johann Michael Seligmann began to issue a nine-volume compilation of the work of renowned British naturalists Mark Catesby (1683-1749) and George Edwards (1694-1773), using plates that he produced himself specifically for the volume.  Over the next thirty years, the gradual release of these eagerly anticipated volumes brought vivid, charming images of New World birds to continental European audiences and made Seligmann a venerated name in natural history circles.

The following handcolored etchings were included in Seligmann's Sammlung Verschiedener Auslandischer und Seltener Vogel  (Collection of Various Foreign and Rare Birds), published  in Nuremburg, 1749-1776. Each plate is engraved with the title in German, Latin and French.

Related Links: Naturalist Prints by John James Audubon, American Sporting Prints by Frank Benson

Prints after Mark Catesby (1683-1749)

Prints after George Edwards (1694-1773)

Original composition by Johann Seligmann