There is now a different book on display in the Library: Elementa ornithologica iconibus vivis coloribus expressis illustrata.
Edicio secunda, by Jacob Christian Schaeffer. Ratisbonae,
Typis Breitfeldianis, 1779.
Balfour Library shelf
mark: qK (8).
The book is open at: Plate 38: Cockerel.
This is a beautiful, hand coloured engraving of the bird, skilfully rendering
all the colours of its bright and varied plumage. He is so lifelike that he appears
to be strutting right off the page. The plate includes a diagram of the bird’s
tongue, and this was included for most of the birds illustrated throughout this
work. It was erroneously assumed that if songbirds in particular were to speak,
it was necessary to ‘loosen’ their tongues.
Jacob Christian Schaeffer (1718-1790)
was a German dean, professor, botanist, mycologist, entomologist, ornithologist
andinventor. He studied theology at the University of Halle, became a teacher
in Ratisbon, and eventually became an extraordinary professor. He was also
awarded the titles of Doctor of Philosophy and Doctor of Divinity by two German
universities and became Pasteur in Ratisbon in 1779.
In
Elementa ornithologica Schaeffer organised birds according
to his own system of classification. He
divided birds into two classes, Nudipedes (those with naked legs) and
Plumipedes (with feathered legs). These two groups more or less correspond to
the Land and Water birds classification of previous authors.
Schaeffer published several works,
including this one, as well as Elementa entomologica in 1776,
of which the Balfour Library owns a copy. He was aware of the
difficulties in hand-colouring the engravings in the works he published and
recommended that colour charts be made: he suggested that fixed criteria for
discerning different colours should be defined, that each defined colour should
be given an unambiguous name, and that this combination of colour and name
should be made available to the public by way of samples. When it came to
mixing the colours for the charts, he recommended that one should imitate as
closely as possible the colours that one found in plants and animals.
Schaeffer also experimented with
electricity and optics, tried to manufacture his own lenses and paper, and
became famous for having made one of the first washing machines!
Sources:
Tim
Birkhead. The wisdom of birds: an
illustrated history of ornithology. London: Bloomsbury; 2008. Balfour
Library shelfmark: K (227). (An illustration of a starling from this work is
included in this book on p. 251).
International
League of Antiquarian Booksellers http://www.ilab.org/index.php
Jacob
Christian Schäffer.
Wikipedia article at
Kärin Nickelsen. The challenge of colour: eighteenth-century botanists and the
hand-colouring of illustrations. Annals
of Science, Volume 63, Number 1/January 2006, pp. 3-23. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00033790500151177
Michael Walters. A
concise history of ornithology: the lives and works of its founding figures.
London: Christopher Helm; 2003. Balfour Library shelfmark: K (225).
