The Great Sea Serpent according to Pontoppidon - an engraved hand-coloured print by W. Jardine, 1833 art poster canvas gift

"The Great Sea Serpent according to Pontoppidon" - an antique Victorian 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 "giclée" 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.