Australian Pungent Chaetedon. Granulated Balistes. Australian fish engraving c1790

by White, John

Australian Fish antique print. Old Wife, Rough Leatherjacket (Enoplosus armatis and Scobinictyhy granulatus.) Having been involved in the erection of a signal station at South Head, John White was one of the officers who volunteered to fish every second night to supplement the rations.

Original copperplate engraving for amateur naturalist and Surgeon-General of the First Fleet and Settlement in Australia, John White's Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales published in London by J. Debrett c1790.

White had kept a journal since joining the First Fleet. Being a keen amateur naturalist, he continued sketching and making notes of birds and other wildlife. He even found time to accompany Governor Arthur Phillip on two exploratory journeys. In 1788 White sent his notes to a London surgeon friend, Thomas Wilson, who arranged for them to be published in 1790 as Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales. Accompanying his text, sixty-five engravings had been commissioned from his sketches and notes. The Journal engravings were not coloured for publication. This finely hand-coloured engraving was tinted at a later date.

This page is in very good condition considering its age. Only the extremity of the page are soiled. Size of page: 28 x 22cm (11 x 8.5 inches) (White's Journal description of the Granulate Balistes fish has been located (and scanned) with descriptions of other Fish - but not The Pungent Chaetedon.)