Giant Sea Serpent – a woodcut print by Conrad Gessner, 1598, a whole page from Fischbuch

Description

“Giant Sea Serpent” – an extraordinary woodcut hand-coloured print of a giant sea monster serpent attacking a ship by Conrad Gessner, from the third German edition of his Fischbuch, published in 1598 in Zurich.

Conrad Gessner (1516 – 1565) was a Swiss physician, bibliographer, natural historian, philologist and illustrator. He was born in Zurich, Switzerland, and studied languages, theology and medicine at university. Later as a City Physician he spend much of his time on collecting, research and writing. Gessner compiled monumental works on bibliography (Bibliotheca universalis 1545–1549) and zoology (Historia animalium 1551–1558) and was working on a major botanical text at the time of his death from plaque at the age of 49. He is regarded as the father of modern scientific bibliography, zoology and botany. Over his lifetime he produced some 70 publications on many different subjects. In Historia animalium Gessner combines data from old sources, such as the Old Testament, Aristotle, Pliny, folklore, and medieval bestiaries. Gessner’s books were illustrated with hand-coloured woodcut prints of many well-known animals, and some fictional ones, including unicorns, mermaids and serpents.

Gessner’s woodcut of a giant sea serpent attacking a ship is notably similar to one by Olaus Magnus in his History of the Northern Peoples published in 1555. This remarkable leaf depicting the sea serpent is from the third German edition of Gessner’s Fischbuch, published by Christoff Froschower in Zurich in 1598. This volume contains many additional illustrations by Gessner, based on his observations as well as on work of other naturalists of 16th century.

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.