Jonathan Couch (1789 /1870) - Benjamin Fawcett (1808 /1893) - "Rombo, Labro macchiato, Labro misto, Labro comune, Labro verde, Asello d'America, Merlano, Passera - 1864

Lot of 16 sheets, of which 8 are woodcuts and 8 are descriptive sheets

Type: color woodblock print (Benjamin Fawcett technique) and hand-finished;
Support: Heavy, smooth, absorbent paper (often imported from France), capable of withstanding repeated passes under the press without warping, with protective tissue;
State: Excellent inking, good conservation state with minor signs of foxing and browning, binding marks, all as shown in the photos;
Shipping: INSURED via BARTOLINI/DPD courier; declare any damage at collection;
Provenance: From private collection;

Unlike classic woodcut which used blocks cut with the grain (wood of elm), Fawcett engraved exclusively on head wood (radial section), importing very hard blocks of Turkish boxwood.

Final touch with watercolor: Although most of the color was printed mechanically from the wood blocks, the premium natural history plates were examined one by one: often a craftsman added small touches of watercolor or gum arabic by hand to give a glossy, wet look to the eye or to the fish’s livery.

Plates from the collection of the masterpiece, A History of the Fishes of the British Islands (published in four volumes between 1862 and 1865).

Jonathan Couch (1789–1870) was an extraordinary figure of Victorian science: a British country physician, ichthyologist and polymath naturalist, whose life was closely tied to Polperro, a small fishing village on Cornwall’s coast. Working for over sixty years as the village doctor, Couch formed a unique bond with local fishermen. It was they who brought him the most unusual and freshly landed specimens.

Jonathan Couch (15 March 1789 – 13 April 1870) was a Cornish naturalist, the only son of Richard and Philippa Couch, from a family long resident in Polperro, a small fishing village between Looe and Fowey on the south coast of Cornwall. A blue plaque on the wall of the Warren cottage commemorates his birthplace. After a classical education in Cornish schools and several years of apprenticeship with two local physicians, he entered the united hospitals of Guy’s and St. Thomas’s in 1808, and in 1809 or early 1810 returned to Polperro, where he served as village doctor for sixty years. He died on 13 April 1870, aged 81. wikipedia

Benjamin Fawcett (1808–1893) is unanimously regarded as one of the greatest pioneers and masters of color woodblock printing in the Victorian era. His absolute dedication to quality and his rejection of commercial compromises made him a unique figure in the 19th-century publishing landscape.