Shark Illustrations: An Interaction Between Technology and Scientific Content
As biologists collaborating at Berkeley on a scientific project we decided to try to gather some
data on a topic that had long interested us. We had noticed that the illustrations from literature
on cartilaginous fishes of the late 19th and early 20th century were more useful than modern
sources and wondered if this might have something
to do with the techniques in use for reproducing illustrations. We believed that The Bancroft
Library would have exactly what we needed so it was the first stop on our data collecting
expedition. Several lavishly illustrated and important books were made available for our use, but
the most useful resource was not printed matter but Bancroft's unusual collection of printing
plates, presses, and typesetting machinery. Bancroft Curator of Rare Books, Tony Bliss, generously
explained the various printing techniques used over the past three centuries to reproduce
illustrated material. Bancroft even hosts a course in historical printing techniques. Though we did
not take the course,
Tony and his strange and wondrous ink depositing devices were the jumping off point for what has
proved to be a fascinating journey through the history of shark illustration.
Sixteenth through nineteenth century expeditions to the subtropical and tropical New World and
beyond returned to Europe with astounding discoveries of animal and plant species, many of which
were either preserved or brought back alive. There was no way to convey the beauty and strangeness
of these natural wonders other than by illustration. Much of the most remarkable renderings of
natural history were born of this need to inform the public about bizarre forms. To reach
scientific circles as well as the public these illustrations were often published in first-hand
accounts of expeditions. Later, the figures were copied, with various degrees of fidelity, and
published in compendia and bestiaries. Many of the illustrations in the latter were gross
misconceptions and clearly not drawn from life, others were accurate and wonderful renderings.
While sharks, skates, and rays were no doubt familiar to Europeans, primarily for their gustatory
content, the near-shore, cold water animals were not very different from their usual fare of bony
fishes. In contrast the sub-tropics and tropics were teaming with huge, and very oddly shaped forms
such as hammerhead sharks, sawfishes, and gigantic stingrays. Transporting these creatures alive
was obviously impossible and preserving them was usually impractical.
Expedition naturalists sketched fresh specimens, thereby capturing their natural shape and colors,
in order to lend credence to the existence of these exotic fish. Not only were these sketches
scientifically accurate, often times they were quite artistic.
The scientific content of a mass produced illustration was limited however by the printing technique (either wood cut or wood engraving) which allowed only minimal detail. Interestingly, the high level of detail in the original oil or water color based illustration was often lost or misinterpreted in the mass produced engravings and subsequent copies. Greater detail and also hand applied color was available through copper plate engraving, an expensive alternative that limited both the number of illustrations and the breadth of circulation.
The invention of stone lithography made high quality scientific illustration commonplace in the
late 19th century. Morphological accuracy became more important than artful execution, nevertheless
many of these illustrations have an artistic quality inherent in highly detailed work.
Printing innovations, artists as members of expeditionary staff, and the emphasis on the external
shape of animals were contributing factors in the scientific and artistic success of the expedition
monographs of the 19th and early 20th centuries.
While not strictly an expedition publication, Day's Fishes of India (1878), is a good example of this type of scientific resource. Francis Day (1829-1889) was a surgeon in the Madras Medical Service. He later became (at his own instigation) the inspector general of fisheries for all of India and conducted a thorough survey of the fishes around the Bay of Bengal. In 1874 he returned to England to work in the British Museum, where he had sent many of his specimens, on the definitive guide to Indian fishes. Working with an artist (C. Achilles) he produced a volume with illustrations that are still useful to scientists.
The transition from fanciful renditions to anatomically accurate and artistically satisfying
illustrations of elasmobranchs eventually gave way to a workmanlike iconographic style in the 20th century.
The scientific content of these illustrations, reproduced with an inexpensive 'electroplate'
technique, is not nearly as high as lithography, both because of the relatively heavy line and the
lack of gray-scale detail. The process was so inexpensive that it was possible to provide line
drawing outlines of dozens or even hundreds of species in a widely available book. These tomes,
while invaluable for the scholarship of their text might very well have been published without
illustrations given the lack of new information presented in the cartoonish black and white
renderings (See for example Bigelow and Schroeder, 1953).
We appear to be entering a renaissance of 19th century illustration quality with the widespread use of the relatively inexpensive color offset lithography systems (i.e. Last and Stevens, 1994). Ironically, if we wait just a few more years, the scientific and artistic quality of shark art will have caught up to the 1890's.
—Adam Summers,
Assistant Professor, UC Irvine
—Tom Loob
Shriner's Hospital
Figure 1. A hand colored copperplate from Bloch's (1796) monumental work on
fishes. Many of the drawings, such as this embryonic sawfish, are clearly drawn from life while
others are obviously drawn from second and third-hand accounts. Bancroft has an octavo edition
which contains all the plates of the spectacular folio edition.
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Figure 2. A skate from Ruysch's (1718) compendium of animals that included
some fishes. The copperplate etchings in this volume are taken from numerous primary sources. In
the present case he has copied a fanciful interpretation of a dried specimen. The wings have been
sliced away from the head before drying, and resemble arms, while the nasal capsules, on the
underside of the head have become eyes.
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Figure 3. A lithograph from Day's Fishes of India. The proportions of the
shark are true to life and the pattern is faithfully rendered. The shading clearly shows the depth
of the body and the angle and attachment of the fins.
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Figure 4. The illustration is from Mueller and Henle's (1841) catalog of
cartilaginous fishes. The work contains original descriptions of about a quarter of all sharks and
rays. The desiccated head and gracile body are testament to the difficulty of drawing from dried
specimens rather than from life. This illustration is a stone lithograph.
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Figure 5. In 1638 George Margrave explored Brazil with the Dutch expedition
of Maurice of Nassau. Margrave's observations on the fishes of Brazil was the first study of its
kind outside the Mediterranean. Margrave's water color paintings capture fresh specimens with
remarkable accuracy.
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Volume 20
Spring 2002
Table of Contents
From the Director: Bancroft's New Building?
Students Examine Original Documents
