Anatomy

"Anatomy of Three Fish." Antoine Goüan. Historia Piscium. Amand König, 1770

Anatomy of Three Fish

This engraved plate details the anatomy of three species of fish in seven figures.

"Anatomy of a Baby Ray." Alexander Monro. The Structure and Physiology of Fishes Explained and Compared with those of Man and Other Animals. Charles Elliot, 1785.

Anatomy of a Baby Ray

This engraved plate details the anatomy of a baby ray fish.

"Anatomy of a Cod." Alexander Monro. The Structure and Physiology of Fishes Explained and Compared with those of Man and Other Animals. Charles Elliot, 1785.

Anatomy of a Cod

This folding engraved plate details the anatomy of the head of a cod.

"Anatomy of a Herring." Alexander Monro. The Structure and Physiology of Fishes Explained and Compared with those of Man and Other Animals. Charles Elliot, 1785.

Anatomy of a Herring

This engraved plate depicts the anatomy of a herring.

"Anatomy of a Whitefish." John J. Brice. A Manual of Fish-Culture, Based on the Methods of the United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries. Government Printing Press, 1897.

Anatomy of a Whitefish

A useful introduction to the external anatomy of fish. With few exceptions, this figure would also be at home in a modern textbook.

"Anatomy of Fish Gills." Alexander Monro. The Structure and Physiology of Fishes Explained and Compared with those of Man and Other Animals. Charles Elliot, 1785.

Anatomy of Fish Gills

This engraved plate exposes the anatomy of fish gills.

"Coregonus Embryology." Louis Agassiz and Karl Christoph Vogt. Histoire Naturelle des Poissons d'Eau Douce de l'Europe Centrale: Embryologie des Salmones. O. Petitpierre, 1842.

Coregonus Embryology

This leaf is from a loose portfolio of folio-sized plates that accompany the octavo text. This plate depicts several views of a larval whitefish.

"Coregonus Juveniles." Louis Agassiz and Karl Christoph Vogt. Histoire Naturelle des Poissons d'Eau Douce de l'Europe Centrale: Embryologie des Salmones. O. Petitpierre, 1842.

Coregonus Juveniles

This leaf is from a loose portfolio of folio-sized plates that accompany the octavo text. This plate depicts a newly hatched juvenile whitefish.

"Development of the Wall-Eyed Pike." Whitacker Hershall, et al. Ninth Biennial Report of the State Board of Fish Commissioners from Dec. 1, 1888 to Oct. 1, 1890. Robert Smith & Co, 1890.

Development of the Wall-Eyed Pike

The wall-eyed pike, or walleye, is an important food and game fish in North America. This plate depicts the early larval development of the walleye.

"Development of the Wall-Eyed Pike." Whitacker Hershall, et al. Ninth Biennial Report of the State Board of Fish Commissioners from Dec. 1, 1888 to Oct. 1, 1890. Robert Smith & Co, 1890.

Development of the Wall-Eyed Pike

The wall-eyed pike, or walleye, is an important food and game fish in North America. This plate depicts the anatomy of newly hatched walleye.

"Internal Anatomy of a Ray." Alexander Monro. The Structure and Physiology of Fishes Explained and Compared with those of Man and Other Animals. Charles Elliot, 1785.

Internal Anatomy of a Ray

This enormous folding engraved plate spans over 60 cm when opened.

"Internal Anatomy of the Head of a Cod." Alexander Monro. The Structure and Physiology of Fishes Explained and Compared with those of Man and Other Animals. Charles Elliot, 1785.

Internal Anatomy of the Head of a Cod

This large folding engraved plate details some of the internal anatomy of the head of a cod.

"Larval Fish." John J. Brice. A Manual of Fish-Culture, Based on the Methods of the United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries. Government Printing Press, 1897.

Larval Fish

This plate depicts the early development of a newly hatched larval fish.

"Skeletal Anatomy of One Fish." Antoine Goüan. Histoiria Piscium. Amand König, 1770.

Skeletal Anatomy of One Fish

This engraved plate depicts the skeletal anatomy of a fish in seven figures.

"Unhatched Fish in an Egg." Theodatus Garlick. A Treatise on the Artificial Propagation of Fish with Descriptions and Habits of Such Kinds as are Suitable for Domestic Fish-Culture. JB Savage, 1880.

Unhatched Fish in an Egg

Because many fish eggs are transparent, the development of the fish inside is easy to observe. This plate depicts a later stage of development.

The Beauty of Original Boards

The nineteenth century ushered in an explosion of technical works on the anatomy of fish. Works on comparative anatomy were popular, as were detailed works on single species of fish. Bakker’s contribution to the anatomy of fish, Osteographia piscium (1822), includes a large atlas of plates (shown here) and a small octavo text volume.

Engraved, Folding, and Coloured

This large folding engraving of a fish skeleton is partially hand-coloured and is the most impressive plate in Bakker’s Osteographia piscium (1822).

An Engraved Title Page

Despite being a book of a very technical nature, the text volume of Bakker’s Osteographia piscium (1822) includes an attractive engraved vignette on the title page.