THE STREAKED GURNARD fish print
Jonathan Couch (1789 – 1870) was one of the pioneering natural historians of the 19th century. These very beautiful and original watercolours are from his most celebrated work, A History of the Fishes of the British Islands, published in three editions from 1862 - 1877.
Couch’s illustrations - ‘drawn from their native element, with their native colours fresh upon them’ - were engraved on boxwood by Alexander Francis Lydon, and produced by Benjamin Fawcett, one of the country’s finest nineteenth century colour printers.
This work is regarded today as one of the fundamental contributions to British ichthyology.
(Ref. Couch, preface vol. 1, Dean, Bibl.of Fishes vol.1 p.276, Polperro civic website, Rowett Johns, 2010, Wood 1931)