The Great Sea Serpent according to Pontoppidon – a print by W. Jardine, 1833

Description

“The Great Sea Serpent according to Pontoppidon” – an antique engraved print published by William Jardine in “The Naturalist’s Library”, in 1833-1843.

Bishop Erik Pontoppidon (Pontoppidan) (1698 – 1764) was a Danish author, bishop, historian and antiquary. Pontoppidan argued for the existence of the sea serpent, the kraken and the mermaid in his two-volume work, Versuch einer natürlichen Geschichte Norwegens (The Natural History of Norway), published in 1752 and 1753. He used numerous sighting reports from credible observers to build his case for the existence of these creatures. For example, Pontoppidan used the sworn testimony of a naval officer named Lawrence de Ferry as evidence for the existence of sea serpents. Ferry told Pontoppidan that he had shot a sea serpent while at sea in 1746. After being hit, the creature dived into the water and was gone. Its head resembled a horses’ head and it had a mane. It also had coils extending out of the water. The publication of The Natural History of Norway was an important event in the history of the sea serpent in particular. According to cryptozoologist Bernard Heuvelmans, there were only nine dated and documented sightings of sea serpents before the work was published. After publication, there were 23 sightings between 1751 and 1800, 166 sightings between 1801 and 1850, 149 sightings between 1851 and 1900, and 194 sightings between 1901 and 1950.

Sir William Jardine, 7th Baronet of Applegarth (1800 – 1874) was a Scottish naturalist. Jardine made natural history available to all levels of Victorian society by editing the hugely popular forty volumes of The Naturalist’s Library (1833–1843) issued and published by his brother in law, the Edinburgh printer and engraver, William Home Lizars.

This poster is a high quality “giclee” reproduction of a restored antique original, custom-printed on Standard Single-weight Matt Coated art paper 140gsm or  Heavyweight Matt Coated art paper 230gsm (more of a thin card density), or superb Epson Matt Canvas 320gsm, according to your choice. We use the latest UltraChromeHDX pigment inks which guarantee 60 years of colour  permanence (up to 200 years fade-proof for colour prints).  This poster is suitable for mounting and framing, as well as direct display on a wall.

IMPORTANT: If you are going to frame this print we recommend art paper 230gsm or canvas 320gsm. The 140gsm art paper option makes sense if you wish to DIY-frame or to tack the poster to a wall without framing, due to it being lighter and more flexible. All three options are giclee prints of the same high quality.

POSTER PRINT QUALITY

Please note that our reproduction posters are made to order and every print is checked before posting. The images we use in most cases are scans of antique originals, professionally restored in order to remove the most evident stains, folds, tears and other damage. We strive to balance the restoration and saving the overall integrity and antique appearance of the original. Our restored images are unique and these prints can be purchased only from www.VictorianMaps.com.

There will be no watermark on your image but there might be a white border depending on aspect ratio of the original. Please note that when a large antique original is reduced to a smaller size print some text may not be readable. Please check our measurements: every poster has its own aspect ratio same as original and printed exactly as pictured.