Rees Coleoptera. Hispa, Bruckus, Curculio, Attelabus, Cerambyx c1802,

by Rees, Abraham

Insects antique print. Coleoptera engraving for Abraham Rees's The Cyclopaedia; or, Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences and Literature, published between 1812 and 1820.

Original copperplate engraving by Milton c1802 (with later hand colour). Published by Longman and Rees of Paternoster Row, London. Abraham Rees was a Presbyterian clergyman and scholar who worked for many long years, revising Chambers’ Encyclopaedia.

Rees commissioned foremost artists and scientific experts in each field for his own enormous 'Cyclopaedia' which comprised 39 volumes of text and 6 separate volumes of illustration, including an atlas, one volume on natural history, and four volumes on agriculture, geology, the remaining sciences, foreign exploration, technology and the arts. Each of these volumes was comprised of over 240 superbly drawn and engraved pages of illustrations, with several of each kind of subject to a page. Rees's Cyclopaedia was entirely hand-set, and each engraving was printed from an engraved plate onto 'hand-wove' paper. It was the most extensive, comprehensive literary work of the 19th century. With the first volumes published in 1802 by Longman and Rees, there was an increasing number of publishers involved during the 18 years of publication.

The size of this image is 265 x 200 mm (10.5 x 8 inches)