Notebook Fishes and Crabs

415 fish, 45 crustaceans, a dugong and a mermaid were presented to King George I and for European admiration by Louis Renard (1678-1746) in two volumes published in 1718-1719. "Painted from nature under the regency of Messrs. van Oudshoorn, van Hoorn, van Ribeek & van Zwoll, successively Governors-General of the East Indies for the Holland Company", they constitute the first ichthyological encyclopaedia illustrated in colour. The majority of the hand-coloured copper engravings correspond to real fauna, but a certain number are of the highest fantasy of patterns and colours, for the greatest pleasure of the eyes of yesterday and today.