1 Introduction
Louis Renard’s Poissons, ecrevisses et crabes, de diverses couleurs et figures extraordinaires, que l’on trouve autour des isles Moluques et sur les côtes des terres Australes has presented a beautiful conundrum to bibliographers and natural historians since its publication in Amsterdam in 1719. The book’s 100 hand-coloured, copper-engraved plates illustrate 460 individual animals, some of which are immediately recognizable while others seem entirely fantastical. Although Renard’s work went through three editions under three different publishers in the 18th century, its legacy has been predominately one of derision and dismissal, especially amongst 20th-century bibliographers and natural historians. The book’s vivid yet seemingly random colouring, the inclusion of decorations such as faces and suns on some animals, and inaccurate and sometimes outlandish description of animal behaviour have all led to skepticism of the book’s scientific veracity and seriousness. More recent work, however, has succeeded in identifying nearly all the book’s 460 organisms at least to the level of family and has restored the importance of Renard’s Poissons in the history and development of ichthyological literature.
Herein we provide a historical overview of Louis Renard and the three editions of his Poissons, also known frequently by its half title, Histoire naturelle des plus rares curiositez de la mer des Indies. We also discuss Renard’s engravings, with a visual comparison of examples from Poissons with modern photographs of the species they were intended to represent. Finally, we detail the discovery of a potentially unique copy of Renard’s book that somehow escaped colouring and existed essentially unrecorded until it was broken, coloured, and sold leaf-by-leaf at auction in 2020–2021. Despite its reputation as a work of ambiguous scientific merit, Renard’s Poissons remains a significant contribution to the natural history of aquatic animals and continues to present new opportunities for research 300 years after its initial publication.
2 Louis Renard and the Three Editions of His Poissons, Ecrevisses et Crabes
Born in the fortress town of Charlemont, northeastern France, in 1678 or 1679,1 Louis Renard came from a Huguenot family that fled, after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, to the Netherlands to escape religious persecution. Although no word of his parents, his early childhood, or his education seems to have survived, we do know that he settled in Amsterdam, where he became a member of the Walloon (or French Reformed) Church on 6 September 1699 and a citizen of that town on 17 September 1703.2 By 1703, he had established himself as a bookdealer and publisher, and on 17 September of that year he became a member of the Amsterdam Guild of bookdealers, paying his dues to that organization through the year 1735.3 Between 1704 and 1725 there appeared a number of works under the Renard name, most of which were printed in French, but some in Latin. Initially these were small publications dealing with current events, probably produced in connection with his selling of newspapers. Later, his attention turned to the production of new editions of books printed in France, the publication of maps and plates, and finally, some large plate works for which he himself supplied the text.4
By the mid-1720s, however, Renard’s publishing efforts seem to have come to a halt. Until this time his addresses in Amsterdam were near the town hall, in the heart of the bookselling district; but after 1722 we find him far removed from there, a sure indication that books were less important in his life.5 After 1724 his name cannot be found in the pages of the Gazette d’Amsterdam or the Amsterdamsche Courant, which at that time were two of the most important advertising journals for the Dutch book trade.6 By 1735 he had stopped paying his dues to the Amsterdam Guild of book dealers. On 4 and 5 January 1737, books belonging to Renard were sold at auction.7 Copperplates belonging to Renard were auctioned off on 14 and 15 July 1738,8 and finally, more of his books were auctioned off from 16 to 21 May 1746, almost three months after his death.9
In addition to his occupation with books, Renard acted as a kind of spy on behalf of the British Crown. From at least 1706 until his death in February 1746, he was employed by Queen Anne,10 and later by George I and George II,11 to (among other things) search ships leaving Amsterdam to prevent supplies of arms and stores from reaching the Roman Catholic ‘Old Pretender,’ James Stuart.12 This service, however, could hardly have been much of a secret, since as early as 1719 Renard publicly announced his title of ‘agent’ in his advertisements (for example in the Gazette d’Amsterdam) and on the title page of his publications.
In addition to bookdealing and spying, Renard had at least two other sources of income. The first of these had to do with buying and selling English bonds.13 The second, an occupation inherited from his father-in-law, Daniel de la Feuille (1640–1709), was selling certain medicinals, the recipes for which were held in strict secrecy.14 The names of two such products are known: one was a tincture de tartre, the claimed effect of which is now unknown; the other was beaume de reunion or beau cene. The latter product purportedly would ‘thoroughly heal all sorts of fractures in children within eight weeks, and in older people within a slightly longer period; a bottle sells for eight guilders, or you can agree to pay for the entire cure with a money-back guarantee: you apply a plaster, which in the evening is moistened with only ten to twenty small droplets’.15
Of Renard’s personal life we know very little. His income as agent, combined with that acquired from his dealings in books and medicinals, no doubt allowed him to live a rather comfortable life among the upper-middle-class citizens of Dutch society. In 1742 his annual income was estimated to be 1,500 guilders, enough to provide his family with a maid-servant (dienstbode) and a house on the Herengracht. His social status, and thus perhaps the extent of his wealth, may also be judged by his association both in correspondence and in personal relations with some rather significant personalities of his day.16
However, between 1742 and his death in 1746, some unknown factor seems to have adversely affected Renard’s finances. This is reflected not only by his change of address during this time (from the Herengracht to what must have been considerably more modest quarters on the Spiegelstraat) but also by comments made by a contemporary, Jacob Bicker Raye (1701–1775),17 who noted that Renard, when he died, ‘left a very mediocre capital’ and that as a result ‘his large family was left behind in distressed circumstances’.18 Things were so bad that a daughter, too proud to hire herself out as a cleaning lady, committed suicide.19 Renard’s second son, Daniel (1711–?), who inherited the agent-ships of Great Britain and Hanover,20 became so ill from stress that he had to be confined by his wife to a rest home.21 Constant internal bickering among the siblings resulted in a long series of nasty lawsuits filed by Renard’s oldest daughter, Marianne Germaine (1704–?), against her brother Daniel and his wife Johanna van Segveld (1711–?).22 Although Bicker Raye criticized Renard for his failure to provide adequately for his family, he mentioned also that Renard was a ‘very wise, friendly, and obliging man,’ and ‘a rather favorable judgement may be given as to his character’.23
3 Poissons, Ecrevisses et Crabes
On 9 May 1716, Louis Renard wrote to Robert Erskine (1677–1718), physician and advisor to Peter the Great and first curator of the czar’s natural history collection, describing his latest publishing effort. Hoping to solicit interest from the czar and others among the nobility of St. Petersburg, he elaborated in extraordinary terms:
I received last year [1715] a manuscript on the Moluccas, concerning the natural history of fishes of that country. There are about 500 of them, painted in their natural colors; they are more beautiful than the parrots, the butterflies, and even the flowers in our gardens. Their colors are so vivid that it is like a new miracle of nature. It is, Monsieur, the General of the Indies [Adriaen van der Stel] who has had them drawn and painted. They have worked on this for seventeen years. It is the most beautiful collection in the world for people interested in the curiosities of nature. I have already had engraved from this collection 50 large plates. The others are being done.24
The result of this work, which was published three years later, is Renard’s (1719, 1754, 1782) great masterpiece, Poissons, Ecrevisses et Crabes (Fishes, Crayfishes, and Crabs) containing 100 plates divided into two parts; each part bearing the half-title “Histoire Naturelle des plus Rares Curiositez de la Mer des Indes” (Natural History of the Rarest Curiosities of the Seas of the Indies). Three editions of this book are known, all of which contain 100 color plates, bearing a total of 460 brilliantly colored copper engravings, representing 415 fishes, 42 crustaceans, two stick-insects, a dugong, and a mermaid. With one exception, all of the illustrations represent tropical species of the East Indies, said to have been drawn from nature on the island of Ambon in the South Moluccas by an artist, named Samuel Fallours, in the employ of the Dutch East India Company. The original drawings were obtained by Renard from various individuals who brought them to Holland in 1708 and 1715.25
4 The First Edition
The first edition of the “Histoire Naturelle”, published in 171926 by Renard himself, is quite rare. Of the 100 copies originally printed,27 only sixteen are known, and a census is currently underway to update extant copies of all editions. Six of the surviving copies are bound two-parts-in-one, but the two parts (hereafter referred to as volumes) of eight other copies (for which information is available) are bound separately. Following the half-title page, volume 1 contains a full-title page printed in red and black,28 a two-page dedication to King George I of England bearing his coat of arms, a two-page “Avertissement de l’Editeur” that includes testimony and certification of the authenticity of the contents, and 43 color plates. The second volume is similar to the first, repeating the full-title page and “Avertissement de l’Editeur”, but lacking the dedication pages, and including 57 color plates and a four-page “Table Alphabetique des Noms”.
One known copy of the first edition, held by the Library of the Academy of Sciences St. Petersburg, contains, in addition to the material described above, a two-page “Declaration sur cet ouvrage” (Declaration concerning this work), in which Renard certifies the authenticity of his work: ‘Since this is one of the most precious works to enrich natural history since the birth of literature, I have taken great care to go to the source and to produce proofs of the facts I expose herein’.29 Following this statement and two additional paragraphs of testimony concerning the accuracy of the drawings in volumes 1 and 2 of the “Histoire Naturelle” (in which Renard admits to some possible exaggeration, especially with respect to the mermaid), the St. Petersburg copy is signed and dated by Renard: ‘Fait a Amsterdam, le 28 novembre 1719, Louis Renard, Agent de sa Majeste le Roy de la Grande-Bretagne’. Why Renard included the “Declaration” in this one copy but not in all one hundred copies, especially after having gone to the trouble and expense of having the copperplates engraved, is difficult to understand. Perhaps at the last moment he decided that the “Declaration” did little more than repeat his statements in the “Avertissement de l’Éditeur” and for that reason was best left out. On the other hand, it seems more likely that Renard became concerned that his admission of possible exaggeration and excessive altering of the truth would adversely affect the sale of his book.30
The title page of this first printing was undated, and considerable disagreement exists in the literature as to whether it originally appeared in 1718 or 1719, or the two volumes of the work were printed in 1718 and 1719, respectively; however, conclusive evidence that the production of the book was completed sometime during the winter or spring of 1719 was provided by Pietsch and Rubiano.31
5 The Second Edition
The second edition of the “Histoire Naturelle”, produced in 1754 by the publishing house of Reinier and Josue Ottens, Amsterdam, is only slightly more accessible than the first. Although the number originally printed is unknown, there is evidence that 100 copies were planned32 of these, 34 copies have been located and an updated census is currently underway. This edition differs from the first in having a slightly modified title page (but, unlike the first edition, the title page appears only once), a four-page “Preface” by Aernout Vosmaer,33 and the two-page “Declaration sur cet Ouvrage”, the latter written by Renard (undated, but pre-1719) but for some unknown reason not included in the first edition (with one known exception; see above). The dedication to King George, the “Avertissement de l’Editeur” (absent in seven of 22, second edition copies examined), and the “Table Alphabetique” are identical to those found in the first edition (the “Avertissement”, however, when present, appears only once), and were obviously pulled from the same original copper plates. Except for the absence of the “Avertissement” in seven of the 22 copies examined, the contents of all known copies are the same, but the order in which the material is bound is highly variable, there being at least ten different arrangements. Assuming that the original order of contents of these volumes was not confused during subsequent bindings, it would seem that the collation of the second edition was done in a highly haphazard way.34
The circumstances surrounding the production of the second edition of Renard’s book are complex and not fully understood. What little we do know is contained within six letters written by the publishers Reinier and Josue Ottens in Amsterdam to Aernout Vosmaer, the latter then living at The Hague as Director of the Menagerie and Cabinet of Prince William V. In the first of these letters, dated 16 June 1753,35 the Ottens acknowledge that they have purchased 36 sets of uncolored plates of Renard’s work, and although not specifically stated, the old coppers for the work as well. Their original intention was to have these sets colored, using a copy of the first edition as a model, and to advertise them for sale: ‘Before we had the honor of talking to you [Vosmaer], it was our intention to publish them according to the enclosed advertisement’:
R. & J. Ottens, Art, Maps, & Booksellers of Amsterdam, have acquired in the last few years, by purchase from [the estate of] agent Louis Renard, not more than thirty [of the thirty-six sets mentioned elsewhere in the letter; apparently six were to be retained as reserves] copies of a beautiful and uncommon work by Renard, displaying a cabinet of fishes, crabs, and sea monsters from Ambon and other oriental regions, drawn from life, composed of one hundred plates with about 460 different pictures. All have been precisely painted in their true colors under the supervision of R. & J. Ottens, and enriched with a foreword and letters from experts that prove the authenticity of the work. Offered at a price of 70 guilders and neatly bound in an English cover.
Vosmaer evidently persuaded the Ottens to use the old coppers to print more copies, to color them as before, but to sell them with a new preface to be written by him. At first, the Ottens estimated the price for each of the 30 copies to be f 70, –, but with an expanded production of 100 copies the price could be reduced to f 50, –. It is evident from the second letter, dated Amsterdam, 18 August 1753, that Vosmaer found this price to be too high; the Ottens defended themselves, however, by explaining that the high cost of paper, and of printing and coloring the new copies, made it impossible to lower the price below f 50, –. It thus appears that the first 30 copies, with 70 additional, newly printed ones, together constituted the final plan between the Ottens and Vosmaer for the production of a second edition.
The second letter goes on to ask Vosmaer if he would draft the conditions of subscription, explaining that this must ‘be written in French by an able hand, and since we feel that no one is more capable, you being such a great lover of science, we take the liberty to ask in the most friendly way that you take this task upon yourself’. The third letter, dated Amsterdam, 6 September 1753, indicates that Vosmaer has fulfilled his publisher’s requests: ‘From your recent letter we have learned with pleasure that you have taken the trouble to make not only a description of the fish book, but also a draft of the conditions of subscription and advertisement for the newspapers’. Copies of Vosmaer’s advertisement, written in both French and Dutch, are attached to this letter:
R. & J. Ottens, booksellers in the arts of literature and painting, are presently selling, and have forwarded both at home and abroad the conditions for subscription to, the momentous and completed work having for title Natural History of Fishes, Crayfishes and Crabs, of Diverse Coloration and Extraordinary Form, Which are to be Found About the Islands of the Moluccas and on the Coasts of Southern Lands, etc., the whole provided with divers certificates and testimonials, divided into two parts, all the figures of which are represented and illuminated according to life, brought to light by Mr. Louis Renard, acting for His Majesty the king of Great Britain, and augmented by a preface by Mr. A. Vosmaer. Interested persons may examine the complete work at the premises of the above-mentioned R. & J. Ottens, and for the convenience of subscribers, as a sample, two copper-engraved colored plates have been sent to all parts.
The fourth letter, dated Amsterdam, 10 September 1753, contains a number of items for Vosmaer’s consideration:
We are pleased with your offer to provide a brief preface and we leave to you the reworking of the title page. Should the dedication to George I be dropped? We ask that you not say anything in the preface about the [drawings of] coloured fishes which have come recently to your attention, since we believe this would cause harm to the work.36 Subscribers are more interested in buying something that is already completed, rather than something that will take much more time to finish. Furthermore, we do not want to give them the impression that we can make as many books like this as we would like. We can decide to publish a third volume later if the present production goes well.
In the fifth letter, dated Amsterdam, 26 January 1754, we learn that Vosmaer’s ‘Preface’ has been written and sent to the printer: ‘Yesterday, I received a letter from Mr. Luzac,37 informing me that your excellent preface will occupy one sheet [four pages], and the dedication, a half a sheet [two pages]. He says nothing about the title page or the certification. I am not sure whether to include the ‘Declaration Concerning this Work,’ since I believe your preface fills the role’. Finally, in the sixth letter, dated Amsterdam, 6 May 1754, we learn that the book has been printed and that ‘there are no longer any bound copies left in stock’.38
To summarize the more significant information provided by this correspondence, it seems that the publishing firm of Ottens took the 30 (or 36) unbound copies purchased from Renard’s estate, had the plates colored, replaced the old undated title page of Renard, and added a “Preface” provided by Vosmaer and the ‘Declaration sur cet Ouvrage’ of Renard. These then, together with some 70 additional copies newly printed from the original coppers (save for the new title page and “Preface”), constitute the second edition.
Still left unexplained, however, is the existence of three surviving copies of the “Histoire Naturelle” that contain Renard’s original, undated title page, but at the same time contain the “Preface” of the 1754 edition.39 On superficial examination, these “hybrid” copies appear to be perfectly good, first edition copies dating from 1719 until one discovers Vosmaer’s “Preface” with its reference to the Mercure de France of September 1749.40 Confusion between the first and second editions has been mentioned by several authors.41 Jacques-Charles Brunet42 tells us that the first edition ‘appeared without a date. […] Later, a second edition was printed to which was added a preface by Vosmaer. This new printing appeared either without a date, which caused it to be confused with the first [edition], or with the date 1754, […] [but both versions contain] the preface in which one finds a reference to the Mercure de France of September 1749’. From Brunet’s remarks, and on the basis of the evidence provided by these three known hybrid copies, it must be concluded that the firm of Ottens took some of the original 30 (or 36) copies acquired from the Renard estate, bound them up with Vosmaer’s newly prepared “Preface”, and sold them under the old title page. But why this should have been done remains a mystery. When issuing old stocks as new it was typical at the time for publishers to immediately discard the old title page and issue the text with a new title page bearing their name; to sell a product under a previous publisher’s name would seemingly have been to their disadvantage, but since the title page of 1719 carried no date, the Ottens may have thought at least initially that it could serve just as well.43
6 The Third Edition
The least is known about the third edition of Renard’s book, published in 1782 by the house of Abraham van Paddenburg and Willem Holtrop, Utrecht and Amsterdam.44 Only six copies are known, and an updated census of extant copies is currently underway.45 Its extreme rarity is probably due to the almost certain fact that its publication was never completed. A copy held by the University Library of Amsterdam tells us more about this edition than the remaining five.46 Entirely uncut, in sheets as printed, the text of the Amsterdam copy consists of 56 pages, fourteen gatherings of four pages each, published in four fascicles, each fascicle accompanied by a printed wrapper dated 1782.47 Despite the mention of a preface by Aernout Vosmaer on each wrapper (‘Met eene Voorreden van den Wel-Edelen Heere A. Vosmaer’), these pages contain none of the front matter or “Table Alphabetique des Noms” of the first and second editions of Renard’s book. Instead we find brief synonymies and descriptions in double columns, printed in Dutch and French, respectively, prepared by the Dutch physician and naturalist Pieter Boddaert.48 Apparently a title page was never printed, but in both Dutch and French the initial lines of the first page read: ‘Natural History of the Fishes, Crayfishes, and Crabs of the Indies’. This introductory text of the third edition is followed by the 43 plates (obviously pulled from the original coppers of 1719) that form volume 1 of the first two editions of Renard’s book. Boddaert’s descriptions refer only to the fishes and crustaceans depicted on the 43 plates of volume 1 of the first two editions of Renard’s book; in correlation with this fact, the Amsterdam copy lacks the 57 plates of Volume 2.49 However, that a new printing of all 100 plates, as well as descriptions for the animals of volume 2, was planned, is evidenced by a note printed at the bottom of each wrapper: ‘The work will contain one hundred plates and 20 or 22 sheets of printed text [each sheet having four pages]. Each fascicle will contain ten plates and will cost 12 stivers per plate’. A second known copy of the third edition was acquired in 1963 by the late L.B. Holthuis, of the Naturalis Biodiversity Center Leiden, from the English booksellers Wheldon and Wesley Limited.50 This copy is identical to the Amsterdam copy except that it is cut and bound; the four wrappers and text pages 53 through 56 are missing. Third edition copies held by the Houghton Library of Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, the University Library of Utrecht, and the Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney, are more complete than the two just described: while Boddaert’s text remains the same, still describing only the figures of volume 1, all 100 plates are present. The Harvard copy, a cut and bound copy given to the university in 1915 by Daniel B. Fearing (1859–1918) of Newport, Rhode Island,51 begins with a strange, hand-lettered title page that repeats the Dutch and French title indicated above, but includes the added phrase: ‘Door een Voornaam Liefhebber by een Verzaamelt’ (Collected by a Distinguished Amateur). The margins surrounding this lettering are elaborately decorated with rather crudely drawn, watercolor sketches of objects related to fishing: dip-nets and seines, a canoe paddle, a trident, and a pair of large ceramic vessels pouring water. The textual portion that remains is identical to that of the Amsterdam copy except that only the wrapper for fascicle II is present. The third edition copy held by the University Library of Utrecht remained unknown until 1985 when it was discovered incorrectly catalogued (but since corrected) as a copy of Renard’s second edition of 1754. Like the Harvard copy, it too begins with a hand-lettered title page, this one apparently copied directly from that of the second edition: ‘L. Renard, Histoire naturelle des plus rares curiositez de la mer des Indes … Augm. d’une preface par A. Vosmaer. Amsterdam 1754 Avec 100 pl. col’. Boddaert’s 56 pages of synonymy and description are present, as are all 100 plates. Unfortunately, nothing of the history of the Utrecht copy is known. Another third edition copy, this one in the library of the Rotterdam zoological gardens (Diergaarde Blijdorp), discovered in 1989 and, like the Utrecht copy, incorrectly catalogued (also since corrected) as a copy of the second edition, is less complete than the other five. It consists only of plates 41 through 43 of Volume 1, and plates 1 through 41 and 43 through 56 of Volume 2, bound together with a hand-lettered title page that was undoubtedly produced by the same hand that fashioned the title page of the Utrecht copy described above: in all respects the style and content are identical, even as far as the double rendering of the lettering of ‘A. Vosmaer’.52 The third edition copy held by the Mitchell Library of the State Library of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, differs yet again from all other versions of this printing: it begins with the first color plate of volume 1 (‘Fol. 1’), facing the first page of the text that bears the title in Dutch and French; Boddaert’s 56 pages of description follow, interspersed among the 43 plates of volume 1; this is then followed by the 57 plates of volume 2.
Prior to August 1963, when Professor L.B. Holthuis acquired his copy from Wheldon and Wesley Limited, the existence of a third edition was doubtful. Mulder Bosgoed, in his Bibliotheca Ichthyologica et Piscatoria,53 only briefly mentioned an edition of 1782, based on a description of such a book in the catalogue of the library of Professor Jan van der Hoeven.54 Aside from a single reference to Mulder Bosgoed’s note made by L.B. Holthuis,55 no mention is again made of a third edition until 1963 when Wheldon and Wesley advertised the book for sale in their 1963 catalogue.56 This first published verification of the existence of a third edition was followed some years later by a mention in Claus Nissen’s Die zoologische Buchillustration.57 His description, however, is so imperfect it seems obvious that he could not have examined a copy himself. Nissen’s bibliographic record was later followed by a brief, but somewhat more accurate, description provided by John Landwehr.58
7 Renard’s Poissons, Ecrevisses et Crabes: Fact or Fiction?
All three editions of Renard’s work depict 460 organisms in dazzling colour across 100 engraved plates, including 415 fishes, 41 crustaceans, 2 terrestrial insects, a dougong and a mermaid. The book represents one of the earliest contributions to the natural history of fishes of the Indonesian archipelago and was published more than 140 years before the first volume of Pieter Bleeker seminal work on the region, Atlas Ichthyologique des Indes Orientales Néêrlandaises.59 The original drawings that serve as models for Renard’s engravings are known and their artist60 and contemporary owners61 have provided testimonials to their accuracy.62 Why, then, have the images in Renard’s book elicited scorn from both natural historians and bibliographers? Indeed, the book has been described as ‘crudely drawn and barbarously coloured’,63 ‘inadmissible, insufficient, and often fantastic’,64 and a ‘phantasmagoria … weirdly formed and riotously coloured’.65
Certainly, some of this ridicule is a direct consequence of obvious embellishments on some of the fishes and crustaceans depicted in the book. Fishes and crabs are shown with suns, faces, and even plants on their bodies [Fig. 20.1]; these adornments strain the belief of even credulous readers – both contemporary and current. The descriptions accompanying some of the fishes are no less outlandish, with Sambia66 described thusly by the artist Samuel Fallours: ‘I caught it on the sand and kept it alive for three days in my house, where it followed me everywhere with great familiarity, much like a little dog’.67
![Plate 44, Figure 185 from the second volume of Renard’s Poissons, ecrevisses et crabes, de diverses couleurs et figures extraordinaires, que l’on trouve autour des isles Moluques et sur les côtes des terres Australes […] (Amsterdam, Reinier and Josue Ottens: 1754) showing a smiling sun on the back of the fish](/skin/82152816f5cb7b077e8cfd29ed3925b268a0a7f9/img/Blank.svg)
Plate 44, Figure 185 from the second volume of Renard’s Poissons, ecrevisses et crabes, de diverses couleurs et figures extraordinaires, que l’on trouve autour des isles Moluques et sur les côtes des terres Australes […] (Amsterdam, Reinier and Josue Ottens: 1754) showing a smiling sun on the back of the fish
Image Taken from the Second Edition in the Collection of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Munich
It is not certain why Fallours included these decorations in the drawings, and Renard himself was troubled that they might harm the credibility of his work.68 However, a few 18th- and 19th-century ichthyologists were able to see beyond the embellishments and recognize the scientific merit within Renard’s contribution to a little-known fauna of the era. Peter Simon Pallas (1741–1811) wrote of Renard’s book:69
We are taught almost daily by [the arrival of] new specimens that there are innumerable fishes, in the ocean of both East and West Indies (especially the East) that are surprising in color, form, and habits […] It seems to me less and less doubtful that most of them were [drawn] from life […] and, for certain, I should dare affirm that as the fishes of India […] become known, it will be an easy task to gradually classify, and refer to species all of these histrionic and monstrous representations.
Later, Georges Cuvier, writing in his monumental Histoire naturelle des poissons (1828), also saw merit in Renard’s book, describing the images therein as ‘still indispensable, either for giving an idea of the natural colours of known species, or for helping to recognize new forms that travellers bring to us daily from those so productive waters […] Valentyn’s and Renard’s drawings, although they may be outlandish, nevertheless all represent real objects’.70
Whether the drawings represented ‘real objects’ was unsettled until the 1980s. While it is true that all the organisms depicted are somewhat crudely drawn, sometimes arbitrarily coloured, and not entirely accurate depictions of known species, there is truth in the images. Indeed, fully 91% of the 460 organisms depicted in the book have been identified at least to the taxonomic level of family. Of the 415 fishes, 385 (93%) can be identified, including 251 to species, 97 to genus, and 37 to family; of the 40 crustaceans, 34 (85%) can be identified, including 24 to species, 6 to genus, and 4 to family.71 As of September 2023, Fishbase recognized approximately 4860 species of fishes in the Indonesian archipelago,72 the result of nearly 200 years of systematic exploration in the region. The fishes depicted in Renard’s Poissons were not necessarily collected systematically to inform natural history investigations. Instead, they were collected at the behest of colonial governors and painted – sometimes from copies of copies – and distributed by a soldier-artist with a potential eye towards profit.73 Thus, the fact that the book depicts nearly 10% of the extant Indonesian fish fauna in enough accuracy and detail for at least partial identification supports the optimism of Pallas and Cuvier over the cynicism of cynicism of others.
How were these drawings matched with their living species? Pietsch describes ‘ignor[ing] coloration and the numerous errors in number and placement of certain anatomical features, and concentrate[ing] […] on color pattern and certain key generic and familiar characteristics’ to match the engravings with existing animals.74 The fidelity between images from Renard and living species is certainly evident when one is compared next to the other. For example, Macolor of Renard is a species that can be identified as the Black and White Snapper, Macolor niger.75 Similarities between Renard’s coloured engraving and the living specimen are clear [Fig. 20.2]. One can see the white stripe along the body, black bands of colour, white spotting on the dorsal side, and bands of colour near the eye of both the engraving and the photograph. The inaccuracies are just as evident as the similarities, however, with oranges, reds, and yellows present in the engraving that are not characteristics of the living fish. Nevertheless, the similarities in this example allowed for a confident identification to species. Interestingly, this is a juvenile stage of Macolor niger; an adult stage is depicted in Renard’s Plate 20, Figure 95 of volume 2, where it is called Kakatoe.76 Kakatoe is evidently not associated with Macolor by Renard or Fallours.
Plate 7, Fig. 30 Macolor from the second volume of Renard’s Poissons, ecrevisses et crabes, de diverses couleurs et figures extraordinaires, que l’on trouve autour des isles Moluques et sur les côtes des terres Australes […] (Amsterdam, Reinier and Josue Ottens: 1754) (top) and a photograph of the Black and White Snapper, Macolor niger (bottom) showing similarities and differences between the engraving and photograph of the species it represents
Top Image taken from the Second Edition in the Collection of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Munich. Bottom Ima Ge © D awn Goebbels obt ained via
At the other end of the taxonomic spectrum, it was only possible to identify some of Renard’s engraved fishes to family. Sambia77 or ‘Walking Fish’ [Fig. 20.3] is clearly a frogfish of the family Antennariidae,78 but additional identification below this level is not possible. When comparing the two images, some similarities are evident including the general body shape and fin placement. Although the depictions of the fins on the ventral side of the fish in the engraving are inaccurate, their resemblance to ‘legs’ combined with the description of the fish as the ‘walking fish’ alludes to a common behaviour of the frogfishes. This group is known to ‘walk’ along the substrate using fins modified for this purpose. Thus, although Renard’s engraving is inaccurate and the description outlandish, taken together they do reveal some understanding of the fish and its biology.
Plate 7, Fig. 33 Sambia from the second volume of Renard’s Poissons, ecrevisses et crabes, de diverses couleurs et figures extraordinaires, que l’on trouve autour des isles Moluques et sur les côtes des terres Australes […] (Amsterdam, Reinier and Josue Ottens: 1754) (top) and a photograph of a frogfish of the family Antennariidae (bottom) showing similarities and differences between the engraving and photograph of a member of the family it represents
Top Image taken from the Second Edition in the Collection of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Munich. Bottom Image Courtesy of Roger Steene
Finally, although they represent only approximately 9% of the organisms depicted in the book’s 100 plates, there is a subset of engravings for which no plausible identification could be made. One example is Turbot de la Côte des Poepoes [Fig. 20.4]. Renard describes this fish as ‘rarely caught’ and the specimen depicted weighed 12 pounds.79 However, the combination of characteristics given to this fish do not align it with any known taxonomic family.
Plate 41, Fig. 178 (fish at the top) Turbot de la Côte des Poepoes from the second volume of Renard’s Poissons, ecrevisses et crabes, de diverses couleurs et figures extraordinaires, que l’on trouve autour des isles Moluques et sur les côtes des terres Australes […] (Amsterdam, Reinier and Josue Ottens: 1754). This creature is an example of one of the 9% of organisms in Renard’s Poissons that could not be identified
Image Taken From The Second Edition In The Collection Of The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Munich
8 Escaped from the Colourist: a Potentially Unique Copy?
Poissons, ecrevisses et crabes was issued by its publishers coloured, and there is no evidence that uncoloured copies were offered for sale. Indeed, the book is commonly recognized as the first book on fishes to be illustrated with coloured plates, and contemporary correspondence provides evidence that the book was coloured by the publishers of the first80 and second81 editions prior to their sale. Similar contemporary correspondence is not known for the third edition; however, all known extant copies of the third edition are also coloured. Despite no records of uncoloured copies of the book ever leaving the publishers, there is intriguing evidence that six of the 36 uncoloured copies of the first edition purchased by the Ottens were kept ‘in reserve’ and not coloured.82 Thirty of these 36 copies were apparently coloured and offered as part of the print run of the second edition,83 but there is no further record of the fate of the ‘reserve’ copies. Thus, until recently, all extant copies known of all three editions of Poissons were thought to be coloured by their respective publishers and only offered for sale once coloured.
It was therefore an unexpected and significant discovery when single plates of the second edition of Poissons began to appear on the online auction platform, Invaluable, in 2020. These plates were offered with ‘recent professional hand colouring,’ implying that they had also recently existed in an uncoloured state. When we contacted the firm auctioning these plates, the firm confirmed that they were in possession of an uncoloured copy of Renard’s Poissons that was purchased from an antiquarian bookdealer. Unfortunately, this dealer had no additional provenance on the copy, but it had been bound in recent, undecorated full vellum that preserved an old leather spine label from the book’s previous binding. The firm intended to colour and auction individually each of the 100 plates from the now dismantled copy, but when we contacted the seller in November 2020, not all plates had yet been coloured. To secure as many plates as possible in their uncoloured state, a single owner purchased 23 uncoloured plates from the firm to preserve them together as a fragment of the original copy for future research. The remaining 77 plates have been coloured and dispersed via auction in 2020 and 2021. Four of these coloured examples were purchased by the owner of 23 uncoloured plates, creating a fragmentary copy of the original book with 23 uncoloured plates, 4 coloured plates, and a single text leaf (the half title to volume 2).
The provenance of this uncoloured copy is currently unknown. Although it included the title page for the second edition, it is not known when the plates in the copy were pulled from the copperplates or why it may have escaped colouring. It is possible that this copy was one of the six ‘held in reserve’ by the publishers of the second edition and not coloured with the other 30 copies purchased from Renard’s estate. Because all plates from all three editions were pulled from the same copperplates engraved for the book’s first edition, it has not yet been possible to determine which copies of the second edition include plates pulled before 1719 and purchased from Renard’s estate and which include plates newly pulled for the book’s 1754 second edition.
However, while studying the uncoloured plates, we noticed a detail that has apparently not previously been examined. The upper margins of Plates 29 and 31 in volume 2 contain two errant ink markings near the plate mark, likely the result of damage to the copperplates [Fig. 20.5]. These identical ink marks have been confirmed in extant colored copies of the second and third editions of the work, but in at least two copies of the first edition examined digitally, the errant ink markings are absent. Thus, if the ink markings are absent from all copies of the first edition, it is potential evidence that the damage occurred sometime between the completion of the first edition and before or during the printing of the second. If even a single copy of the first edition is found with the errant ink, then the damage to the plates likely occurred during the printing of the first edition. However, if all extant copies of the first edition do not contain the errant ink marks and if some copies of the second edition are free of the errant ink,84 it is strong evidence that the damage to the plate occurred sometime between the printing of the first and second editions and that any second editions extant without the evidence of the damage may indeed contain plates from the first pulling in 1718–19. This would also mean the uncoloured copy is likely not one of the “reserve copies” of the first edition. Of course, with only a relatively small number of copies from all editions in existence today, this investigation could only provide partial and inconclusive evidence of when this damage may have occurred. A census of extant copies is underway to determine which copies bear these errant ink markings and whether it might be a clue to the printing priority of plates in the first and second editions.
Details of Plate 29 (left) and 31 (right) from the second volume of the second edition of Renard’s Poissons, ecrevisses et crabes, de diverses couleurs et figures extraordinaires, que l’on trouve autour des isles Moluques et sur les côtes des terres Australes (1754) showing errant ink markings in the uncoloured copy (top), the same markings in the copy in Harvard’s Ernst Mayr Library (middle), and the absence of these markings in the copy in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Munich
Top Images © Justin R. Hanisch. Middle Images From Harvard University in Public Domain Obtained Via Biodiversity Heritage Library. Bottom Images Taken From The Second Edition in The Collection of The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Munich
9 Conclusions
Often dismissed largely as a curiosity or a monstrosity, Louis Renard’s Poissons, ecrevisses et crabes, de diverses couleurs et figures extraordinaires, que l’on trouve autour des isles Moluques et sur les côtes des terres Australes is instead a serious scientific effort unfortunately marred by embellishments and inaccuracies that obscure the book’s rightful contribution to the ichthyological literature of 18th century Indo-Pacific Oceania. Rather than comprising a flipbook of fantasy, Renard’s book accurately presents 385 fishes and 34 crustaceans at least to the level of family and many to genus or species. The book found a small audience in the 18th century, appearing in three different editions by three separate publishers but never exceeding 100 copies in an edition. Indeed, the book was expensive to produce and expensive to purchase in the 18th century,85 and is today one of the rarest and most expensive 18th-century natural history works on fishes.
Although Renard’s Poissons has received considerable study from its publication through to today, it still has secrets to reveal. Ongoing research into errant ink markings visible on some plates may provide new insights into the complicated printing history of this enigmatic work, and fragments of the potentially unique uncoloured copy have been preserved for future study and reflection.
Bibliography
Benthem Jutting W.S.S. van, “A Brief History of the Conchological Collections at the Zoological Museum of Amsterdam, with Some Reflections on 18th-Century Shell Cabinets and Their Proprietors, on the Occasion of the Centenary of the Royal Zoological Society ‘Natura Artis Magistra’”, Bijdragen tot de Dierkunde 27 (1939) 167–246.
Bicker Raye J., Het dagboek van Jacob Bicker Raije, 1732–1772, naar het oorspronkelijk dagboek medegedeeld door Fr. Beijerinck en M.G. de Boer. Second Edition (Amsterdam: 1960).
Boer M.G. de, “Introduction”, in Bicker Raye J., Het dagboek van Jacob Bicker Raije, 1732–1772, naar het oorspronkelijk dagboek medegedeeld door Fr. Beijerinck en M.G. de Boer. Second Edition (Amsterdam: 1960) v–xii.
Boeseman M., “The Vicissitudes and Dispersal of Albertus Seba’s Zoological Specimens”, Zoologische Mededelingen 44 (1970) 177–206.
Bridson G.D.R., “From Xylography to Holography: Five Centuries of Natural History Illustration”, Archives of Natural History 16 (1989) 121–141.
Brunet J.C., Manuel du libraire et de l’amateur de livres, vol. 4 (Paris: 1863).
Dance P.S., The Art of Natural History (Woodstock, NY: 1978).
Dean B., A Bibliography of Fishes, vol. 1 (New York: 1916).
Dean B. A Bibliography of Fishes, vol. 3 (New York: 1923).
Eeghen I.H. van, De Amsterdamse boekhandel, 1680–1725: I. Jean Louis de Lorme en zijn copieboek (Amsterdam: 1960).
Eeghen I.H. van, De Amsterdamse boekhandel, 1680–1725: II. Uitgaven van Jean Louis de Lorme en familieleden (Amsterdam: 1963).
Eeghen I.H. van, De Amsterdamse boekhandel, 1680–1725: III. Gegevens over de vervaardigers, hun internationale relaties en de uitgaven A–M (Amsterdam: 1965).
Eeghen I.H. van, De Amsterdamse boekhandel, 1680–1725: IV: Gegevens over de vervaardigers, hun internationale relaties en de uitgaven N–W, papierhandel, drukkerijen en boekverkopers in het algemeen. (Amsterdam: 1967).
Eeghen I.H. van, De Amsterdamse boekhandel, 1680–1725: V (1–2): De boekhandel van de Republiek 1572–1795, summary, overzichten en indices (Amsterdam: 1978).
Engel H. “Alphabetical list of Dutch Zoological Cabinets and Menageries”, Bijdragen tot de Dierkunde 27 (1939) 247–356.
Engel H., Hendrik Engel’s Alphabetical List of Dutch Zoological Cabinets and Menageries, eds., P. Smit – A.P.M. Sanders – J.P.F. van der Veer (Amsterdam: 1986).
Graesse J.G.T., Trésor de livres rares et précieux, ou Nouveau dictionnaire bibliographique, vol. 6 (Berlin: 1922).
Haag E. – Haag E., La France protestante, ou Vies des protestants Français qui se sont fait un nom dans l’histoire depuis les premiers temps de la réformation jusqu’à la reconnaissance du principe de la liberté des cultes par l’Assemblée nationale. Ouvrage précédé d’une notice historique sur le protestantisme en France, vol. 8 (Paris: 1858).
Holthuis L.B., “Notes on Pre-Linnean Carcinology (Including the Study of Xiphosura) of the Malay Archipelago”, in Wit H.C.D. de (ed.), Rumphius Memorial Volume (Baarn: 1959) 63–125.
Landwehr J., Studies in Dutch Books with Coloured Plates Published 1662–1875: Natural History, Topography and Travel, Costumes and Uniforms (The Hague: 1976).
Meesters R., Catalogue no. 22, Science and Medicine, bookseller cat., Ronald Meesters, Antiquarian Bookseller (Amsterdam: 1979).
Mulder Bosgoed D., Bibliotheca ichthyologica et piscatoria: Catalogue de livres et d’écrits sur l’histoire naturelle des poissons et des cétacés, la pisciculture, les pêches, la législation des pêches, etc (Haarlem: 1873).
Nissen C., Schöne Fischbücher, kurze Geschichte der ichthyologischen Illustration und Bibliographie fischkundlicher Abbildungswerke (Stuttgart: 1951).
Nissen C. 1969, Die zoologische Buchillustration, ihre Bibliographie und Geschichte, vol. 1 (Stuttgart: 1969).
Pieters F.F.J.M., “Notes on the Menagerie and Zoological Cabinet of Stadholder William V of Holland, Directed by Aernout Vosmaer”, Journal of the Society for the Bibliography of Natural History 9 (1980) 539–563.
Pieters F.F.J.M., “Histoire Naturelle des Poissons, Ecrivisses et Crabes des Indes. De uiterst zeldzame derde editie van Louis Renards Poissons, Ecrivisses et Crabes met tekst van Pieter Boddaert, gepubliceerd in 1782”, in Alsemgeest A. – Fransen C. (eds.), In krabbengang door kreeftenboeken. De Bibliotheca Carcinologica L.B. Holthuis (Leiden: 2016) 81–86.
Pietsch T.W., “Louis Renard’s Fanciful Fishes”, Natural History 93 (1984) 58–67.
Pietsch T.W., “Fallours, S. Fishes of the Indo-west Pacific: A Collection of Handcoloured Drawings”, in Antiquariaat Junk. Natural History & Travel, Catalogue 241 (Amsterdam: 1986) 36–39.
Pietsch T.W., “Samuel Fallours and His ‘sirenne’ from the Province of Ambon”, Archives of Natural History 18 (1991) 1–25.
Pietsch T.W., “On the Three Editions of Louis Renard’s Poissons, ecrevisses et crabes: Histoire naturelle des plus rares curiositez de la Mer des Indes”, Archives of Natural History 20 (1993) 49–68.
Pietsch T.W., Fishes, Crayfishes, and Crabs: Louis Renard and His Natural History of the Rarest Curiosities of the Seas of the Indies (Baltimore, MA: 1995).
Pietsch T.W. – Arnold R.J., Frogfishes: Biodiversity, Zoogeography, and Behavioral Ecology (Baltimore, MA: 2020).
Pietsch T.W. – Rubiano D.M., “On the Date of Publication of the First Edition of Louis Renard’s Poissons, ecrevisses et crabes: Histoire naturelle des plus rares curiositez de la Mer des Indes”, Archives of Natural History 15 (1988) 63–71.
Renard Louis, Poissons, écrevisses et crabes de diverses couleurs et figures extraordinaire, que l’on trouve autour des Isles Moluques, et sur les côtes des Terres Australes […] (Amsterdam, Louis Renard: [1719]).
Renard Louis, Poissons, écrevisses et crabes de diverses couleurs et figures extraordinaire, que l’on trouve autour des Isles Moluques, et sur les côtes des Terres Australes […] (Amsterdam, Reinier and Josue Ottens: 1754).
Renard Louis, Natuurlyke historie Indische Zeeën; behelsende de visschen, kreeften en krabben van verschillende kleuren en buitengewoone gedaanten, van de Moluksche Eilanden en op de kusten der Zuidlyke Landen […] (Utrecht – Amsterdam, Abraham van Paddenburg – Willem Holtrop: 1782).
Schutte O., Repertorium der buitenlandse vertegenwoordigers, residerende in Nederland 1584–1810 (The Hague: 1983).
Wood C.A., An Introduction to the Literature of Vertebrate Zoology (London: 1931).
In July 1703, ‘Louis Renard of Charlemont’ was said to be 24 years old (Gemeentelijke Archiefdienst Amsterdam (GAA), DTB 536, f. 59, 27 July 1703).
Schutte O., Repertorium der buitenlandse vertegenwoordigers, residerende in Nederland 1584–1810 (The Hague: 1983) 140.
Universiteits-Bibliotheek Amsterdam (UBA), Gilden Archieven, nos. 68, 69; see also Eeghen I.H. van, De Amsterdamse boekhandel, 1680–1725: V (1–2): De boekhandel van de Republiek 1572–1795, summary, overzichten en indices (Amsterdam: 1978) 348.
Eeghen I.H. van, De Amsterdamse boekhandel, 1680–1725: IV: Gegevens over de vervaardigers, hun internationale relaties en de uitgaven N–W, papierhandel, drukkerijen en boekverkopers in het algemeen. (Amsterdam: 1967) 61.
For known addresses of Renard in Amsterdam, see Pietsch T.W., Fishes, Crayfishes, and Crabs: Louis Renard and His Natural History of the Rarest Curiosities of the Seas of the Indies (Baltimore, MA: 1995) 156, n. 40.
Eeghen I.H. van, De Amsterdamse boekhandel, 1680–1725: I. Jean Louis de Lorme en zijn copieboek (Amsterdam: 1960) 25–26, 47–51; Eeghen I.H. van, De Amsterdamse boekhandel, 1680–1725: II. Uitgaven van Jean Louis de Lorme en familieleden (Amsterdam: 1963) 261–265.
UBA, Gilden Archieven, 112, 4–5 January 1737.
UBA, Gilden Archieven, 113, 14–15 July 1738.
UBA, Gilden Archieven, 121, 16–21 May 1746.
Calendar of Treasury Books, vol. 28, part 2, appendix, p. 450 (21 August 1707).
Appointment as agent in Amsterdam through patent of King George I dated 8/19 April 1715; appointment as agent in Amsterdam through patent of King George II dated 18/29 July 1727 (Niedersächsische Landesbibliothek, Hanover, Cal. Br. 24, no. 3224).
For details of Renard’s activities as a British agent, see Pietsch, Fishes, Crayfishes, and Crabs 9–15.
GAA, Notarieel Archief 6512, no. 291, correspondence with Gerard Bicker van Swieten, superintendent of police, dated 14 September 1720; GAA, Desolate Boedelskamer, no. 251, item 9, documents listing assets of Daniel Renard, son of Louis Renard, dated March 1735; GAA, Notarieel Archief 8041, no. 110, an act of the notary Philippe de Marolles, dated 19 October 1731, which indicates that Renard was involved in speculation in English bonds.
GAA, Notarieel Archief 6479, no. 139, pp. 1013–1015, 13 May 1704, contract between Daniel de la Feuille and Louis Renard witnessed by public notary Hendrik de Wilde, See Eeghen I.H. van., De Amsterdamse boekhandel, 1680–1725: III. Gegevens over de vervaardigers, hun internationale relaties en de uitgaven A–M (Amsterdam: 1965) 193.
GAA, Amsterdamsche Courant, 23 March 1706.
For details, see Pietsch, Fishes, Crayfishes, and Crabs 160, n. 81.
For Bicker Raye (who most likely would have been passed over completely by biographers had it not been that from 1732 to 1772 he kept a diary of daily happenings in his hometown of Amsterdam), see the introduction by M.G. de Boer to the published version of Bicker’s diary: Bicker Raye J., Het dagboek van Jacob Bicker Raije, 1732–1772, naar het oorspronkelijk dagboek medegedeeld door Fr. Beijerinck en M.G. de Boer. Second Edition. (Amsterdam: 1960) v–xii.
Ibidem 126, 184.
Ibidem 184.
Appointed agent at Amsterdam through patent of King George I dated 25 April/6 May 1746 (Niedersächsische Hauptstaatsarchiv Hanover, Cal. Br. 24, no. 3224).
British Museum (BM), Add. MSS 38203, fols. 238–239, Renard, Daniel, formerly British agent at Amsterdam, papers relating to his family affairs, 1764, etc.
BM, Add. MSS 38203, fols. 233–241, Renard, Daniel, formerly British agent at Amsterdam, papers relating to his family affairs, 1764, etc.: ‘Narrative and State of the Case between Mr. Daniel Renard, his Spouse Jane, [Johanna] van Segveld, and Marianne Germaine Renard,’ dated 13 November 1764.
Bicker Raye J., Het dagboek van Jacob Bicker Raije 126, 184.
Original in the Archives of the Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, MSS 846/44, fol. 63v. This and all other quotes throughout this chapter are taken from Pietsch, Fishes, Crayfishes, and Crabs.
See Holthuis L.B., “Notes on Pre-Linnean Carcinology (Including the Study of Xiphosura) of the Malay Archipelago”, in de Wit H.C.D. (ed.), Rumphius Memorial Volume (Baarn: 1959) 63–125; Pietsch T.W., “Louis Renard’s fanciful fishes”, Natural History 93 (1984) 58–67; Pietsch T.W. “Fallours, S. Fishes of the Indo-west Pacific: A Collection of Handcoloured Drawings”, in Antiquariaat Junk. Natural History & Travel, Catalogue 241 (Amsterdam: 1986) 36–39; Pietsch T.W., “Samuel Fallours and his ‘sirenne’ from the province of Ambon”, Archives of Natural History 18 (1991) 1–25; Pietsch T.W., “On the three editions of Louis Renard’s Poissons, ecrevisses et crabes: Histoire naturelle des plus rares curiositez de la Mer des Indes”, Archives of Natural History 20 (1993) 49–68; Pietsch, Fishes, Crayfishes, and Crabs 39–6.; Pietsch T.W. – Rubiano D.M., “On the Date of Publication of the First Edition of Louis Renard’s Poissons, ecrevisses et crabes: Histoire naturelle des plus rares curiositez de la Mer des Indes”, Archives of Natural History 15 (1988) 63–71.
For evidence that the first edition of Renard’s book was published in 1719 rather than the often-cited date 1718, see Pietsch T.W. – Rubiano D.M., “On the Date of Publication of the First Edition of Louis Renard’s Poissons” 63–71.
‘I have had only one-hundred copies made in all’ (Renard to J.H. von Bülow, dated Amsterdam, 19 November 1718, Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek, Gottingen, qu.--4°, Cod. MS Hist. Nat. 108).
Pietsch – Rubiano, “On the date of publication of the first edition of Louis Renard’s Poissons” 63–71.
V.A. Filov, director, Library of the Academy of Sciences St. Petersburg, personal communication, 7 April, 13 June, and 13 October 1986.
Renard might seem out of character in the ‘Declaration sur cet ouvrage’ when he confesses ‘that the painter has exaggerated and excessively altered’ some of the drawings of volume 2; he even goes so far as to acknowledge fear that ‘the monster represented under the name of mermaid [sirenne] […] needs to be rectified’ (Pietsch, Fishes, Crayfishes, and Crabs 76). To be fair, it thus appears that Renard honestly tried to produce an accurate picture of the marine fauna of the East Indies (for more, see Ibidem 163–164, n. 6).
Pietsch – Rubiano, “On the Date of Publication of the First Edition of Louis Renard’s Poissons” 63–71.
Pietsch, “On the Three Editions of Louis Renard’s Poissons” 52.
For Aernout Vosmaer, see Benthem Jutting W.S.S. van, “A Brief History of the Conchological Collections at the Zoological Museum of Amsterdam, with some Reflections on 18th- Century Shell Cabinets and their Proprietors, on the Occasion of the Centenary of the Royal Zoological Society ‘Natura Artis Magistra’”, Bijdragen tot de Dierkunde 27 (1939) 167–246, here 207; Boeseman M., “The Vicissitudes and Dispersal of Albertus Seba’s Zoological Specimens”, Zoologische Mededelingen 44 (1970) 177–206, here 180, 184–187; Pieters F.F.J.M., “Notes on the Menagerie and Zoological Cabinet of Stadholder William V of Holland, Directed by Aernout Vosmaer”, Journal of the Society for the Bibliography of Natural History 9 (1980) 539–563; and Engel H., Hendrik Engel’s Alphabetical List of Dutch Zoological Cabinets and Menageries. eds. P. Smit – A.P.M. Sanders – J.P.F. van der Veer (Amsterdam: 1986) 201–202, 293–294.
That the various copies of Renard’s book show such a great diversity in the arrangement of their parts (except perhaps for those copies reserved for subscribers, which may have been bound early in the production process) is probably because most copies were left as sheets and loose plates, and were arranged only when an order came in; perhaps, also, the order of parts that we see today was, in each case, the individual choice of the buyer who purchased the loose parts and only later had them bound (L.B. Holthuis, Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, Leiden, personal communication, 3 December 1991).
Six letters from Ottens in Amsterdam to Vosmaer at The Hague, dated 16 June 1753, 18 August 1753, 6 September 1753, 10 September 1753, 26 January 1754, and 6 May 1754 (Leiden University Library B.P.L. 246). See Pietsch, Fishes, Crawfishes, and Crabs 22–26.
Despite this plea from the Ottens to keep quiet about an additional set of colored fish drawings (besides the two sets that had gone into the making of Renard’s book (see Pietsch, “Louis Renard’s fanciful fishes” 62), Vosmaer could not refrain from devoting a paragraph to it in his “Preface” to the second edition: ‘by chance, there fell into my hands a collection such as the present one, but which came from the Indies thirty years earlier’.
Mr Luzac is evidently Elias Luzac (1723–1796), a printer in Leiden who also produced some of the volumes of Albertus Seba (Eeghen I.H., De Amterdamse … en indices 127; L.B. Holthuis, Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, Leiden, personal communication, 13 June 1984).
The fact that Ottens had no ‘bound copies left in stock’ does not mean that the edition was sold out. Publishers, who were also their own printers, only colored and bound copies that they could sell right away (for example, to subscribers); copies forming the larger part of the stock were colored and bound only when there was a demand for them. This also explains the differences that one sees in coloration between the various copies of a single edition (Bridson G.D.R., “From Xylography to Holography: Five Centuries of Natural History Illustration”, Archives of Natural History 16 (1989) 121–141, here 125). The coloring was often done by whole families, even the children taking part in the work (L.B. Holthuis, Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, Leiden, personal communication, 13 June 1984). For a brief survey of the materials and methods used for the visual presentation of natural history since the introduction of printing, see Bridson, “From Xylography to Holography”.
Three known copies of the second edition contain the undated title page of the first edition, as well as the ‘Preface’ of Vosmaer dating from 1754: Hunterian Library, Glasgow University, Glasgow; Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris; Universitetsbiblioteket 2. Afd, Copenhagen. A copy held by the Bibliothèque Centrale, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris, is unique among all extant copies of Renard’s book in having the original, undated title page of the first edition, but lacking the ‘Preface’ of Vosmaer. The order of contents is like that of the second edition; that is, in contrast to the first edition, the half-title pages, ‘Tome I’ and ‘Tome II,’ are used to separate only the color plates into two parts, the first containing 43 plates, the second containing 57. This collation, as well as the presence of Renard’s unsigned ‘Declaration sur cet Ouvrage,’ indicates that this copy dates from 1754 rather than 1719.
This reference to the Mercure de France for September 1749 (pp. 183–184) is a ‘Notice to the devotees of Natural History’ of a ‘Mr. Guyot, pharmacist and chemist in the employ of Mr. Pajot, the Count of Onsembray’ (Louis-Leon Pajot, Count of Ons-en-Bray, a French engineer, born at Paris in 1678 and died at Bercy in 1754; Nouvelle Biographie Generale, 38, pp. 693–695), who holds the secret to a method by which ‘he can conserve not only plants, but also all sorts of fishes and other animals with their natural colors’.
Haag E. – Haag E., La France protestante, ou Vies des protestants Français qui se sont fait un nom dans l’histoire depuis les premiers temps de la réformation jusqu’à la reconnaissance du principe de la liberté des cultes par l’Assemblée nationale. Ouvrage précédé d’une notice historique sur le protestantisme en France. Vol. 8 (Paris: 1858) 408; Brunet J.C., Manuel du libraire et de l’amateur de livres, vol. 4 (Paris: 1863) 1220; Graesse J.G.T., Trésor de livres rares et précieux, ou Nouveau dictionnaire bibliographique, vol. 6 (Berlin: 1922) 81.
Pietsch, Fishes, Crayfishes, and Crabs 25–26.
L.B. Holthuis, Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, Leiden, personal communication, 13 July 1984.
Abraham van Paddenburg was active as a bookseller in Utrecht between 1752 and 1790, but not much more is known about him. For information about Willem Holtrop (1751–1835), who was probably the more important of the two, see Nieuw Nederlandsch Biografisch Woordenboek, vol. 1, 1146–1147.
Since a list of known, extant copies of the third edition of Renard’s book was published (Pietsch – Rubiano, “On the Date of Publication of the First Edition of Louis Renard’s Poissons” 69), one additional copy has been located (library of the Diergaarde Blijdorp, Rotterdam) bringing the total number to six.
The Amsterdam copy of the third edition was purchased in 1979 from the firm of Ronald Meesters, Antiquarian Bookseller, Amsterdam for Dfl. 30.000, –. For a full description from the sale catalog, see Meesters R., Catalogue no. 22, Science and Medicine, bookseller cat., Ronald Meesters, Antiquarian Bookseller (Amsterdam: 1979) item no. I.
The printed covers or wrappers of the third edition, of which only four appear to have been published, each consist of four unnumbered pages: a sheet folded in folio, of which page 1 gives the title in Dutch, pages 2 and 3 are blank, and page 4 gives the title in French.
For Pieter Boddaert see Dean B., A Bibliography of Fishes, vol. 1 (New York: 1916) 142; Engel H. “Alphabetical list of Dutch Zoological Cabinets and Menageries”, Bijdragen tot de Dierkunde 27 (1939) 247–356, here 259; Engel H., Hendrik Engel’s Alphabetical List 33–34; Benthem Jutting W.S.S. van “A brief history of the conchological collections” 220.
The Amsterdam copy of the third edition also lacks plates 19 and 23, and 41 through 43.
On Holthuis’s copy, see Pieters F.F.J.M., “Histoire Naturelle des Poissons, Ecrivisses et Crabes des Indes. De uiterst zeldzame derde editie van Louis Renards Poissons, Ecrivisses et Crabes met tekst van Pieter Boddaert, gepubliceerd in 1782”, in Alsemgeest A. – Fransen C. (eds.), In krabbengang door kreeftenboeken. De Bibliotheca Carcinologica L.B. Holthuis (Leiden: 2016) 81–86.
For Daniel Butler Fearing, see Who Was Who in America, 1897–1942, vol. 1, p. 389.
This description, as well as a photocopy of the hand-lettered title page, of the Rotterdam copy of the third edition of Renard’s book was kindly provided by A.E. Hylkema, Librarian, Diergaarde Blijdorp (personal communications, 21 September and 15 November 1989).
Mulder Bosgoed D., Bibliotheca ichthyologica et piscatoria: Catalogue de livres et d’écrits sur l’histoire naturelle des poissons et des cétacés, la pisciculture, les pêches, la législation des pêches, etc (Haarlem: 1873) 122, item no. 1913.
For Jan van der Hoeven see Engel H., Hendrik Engel’s Alphabetical List 124.
Holthuis, “Notes on pre-Linnean carcinology” 76.
See Wheldon & Wesley Ltd, 1963, cat. 101, item 801.
Nissen C. 1969, Die zoologische Buchillustration, ihre Bibliographie und Geschichte, vol. 1. (Stuttgart: 1969) 336, item no. 3362.
Landwehr’s mention of a copy of the 1782 edition in the library of the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Histoire at Leiden is actually a reference to the copy in the private library of the late L.B. Holthuis, Curator Emeritus of that institution. See Landwehr J., Studies in Dutch books with coloured plates published 1662–1875: Natural history, topography and travel, costumes and uniforms (The Hague: 1976) 166, item no. 160.
Bleeker’s Atlas Ichthyologique was published in 9 volumes over 16 years (1862–1868) and is considered ‘One of the most important treatises on [East Asian] fishes,’ see Wood C.A., An Introduction to the Literature of Vertebrate Zoology (London: 1931) 244.
Samuel Fallours (dates unknown), the artist responsible for many of the original drawings copied by the engraver, provided the following testimonial (Pietsch, Fishes, Crayfishes, and Crabs 32): ‘I [….] declare that the fishes included in this collection were drawn and painted by me […] from nature. This was done to my best ability, not believing that human arts can express the beauty of the colours of these fishes […]’.
Frederick Julius Coyett (1680–1736), a contemporary owner of original drawings, provided the following testimonial (Ibidem 32): ‘[…] I can assure you on my honour that they were drawn and colored as truthfully as the painter and the strength of the colours could permit, although it is impossible to obtain with a brush the brightness and admirable variety of colors that these fishes have when still alive’.
Ibidem 32, 43–48.
Dean, Bibliography of Fishes, vol. 3 (New York: 1923) 307.
Nissen C., Schöne Fischbücher, kurze Geschichte der ichthyologischen Illustration und Bibliographie fischkundlicher Abbildungswerke (Stuttgart: 1951) 20.
Dance P.S., The Art of Natural History (Woodstock, NY: 1978) 47–48.
Sambia is also described as the ‘Walking Fish’ or the ‘Running Fish of Ambon,’ an ambulatory characteristic that provides a clue to its identification.
Pietsch, Fishes, Crayfishes, and Crabs 114.
Ibidem 19.
Ibidem 19.
Ibidem 78.
Ibidem 78–79.
Fishbase is a regularly updated, international web portal devoted to the diversity of fishes. The count of Indonesian fish species given here was generated on 22 September 2023 from <https://www.fishbase.de/Country/CountryChecklist.php?c_code=360&vhabitat=all2&csub_code=&cpresence=present>.
Pietsch, Fishes, Crayfishes, and Crabs 38.
Pietsch, “Louis Renard’s fanciful fishes” 67.
Pietsch, Fishes, Crayfishes, and Crabs 114–115.
Ibidem 140–141.
Ibidem 114–115.
Pietsch T.W. – Arnold R.J., Frogfishes: Biodiversity, Zoogeography, and Behavioral Ecology (Baltimore, MA: 2020).
Pietsch, Fishes, Crayfishes, and Crabs 182–183.
In letters to Sir Hans Sloane (1660–1753), Renard describes the great costs of having the books coloured prior to their sale. Indeed, Renard describes how it is difficult for him to send Sloane copies of the book for sale ‘on commission’ and that Renard must receive payment in advance of sending books to Sloane in England for sale. Renard did eventually send 30 coloured copies of the book to a bookseller in England (Ibidem 21).
Correspondence between Aernout Vosmaer and the publishers of the second edition indicate that uncoloured copies of the plates purchased from Renard’s estate were coloured and that new plates pulled from the original copperplates were also coloured prior to sale. In particular, the Ottens justify the price of the book by explaining the expenses incurred, in part, by the colouring (Ibidem 23–24).
The Ottens corresponded with Aernout Vosmaer about purchasing 36 uncoloured copies of the first edition from Renard’s estate but only discuss having 30 of these coloured (Ibidem 23).
Ibidem 23.
A copy of the second edition has been confirmed without the damage.
The second edition was apparently offered at 50 guilders (Ibidem 23) or several hundred Euro in 2022 equivalent.