Bleak Fish - A History of the Fishes of the British Islands

A beautiful 19th-Century original hand-coloured antique framed print of the 'Bleak' fish by Jonathan Couch, who was one of the pioneering natural historians of the 19th century. 

'Bleak' is from a series of very beautiful and original watercolours of Couch's most notable work, A History of the Fishes of the British Islands, published in three editions from 1862 - 1877. This was the first ever work of colour prints of fish found in British waters.

This original antique print has been hand-framed in Dorset. Total measurement including frame 28 cm x 23 cm.

About the artist: 

Jonathan Couch (1789 – 1870) was born in in Cornwall, and spent man hours at fishing docks, speedily observing and painting the fish while fresh, before the colours of the fish rapidly began to fade.  He trained in succession a large number of fishermen to aid him in his pursuits, and the observations made at and near Polperro during his lifetime and since his death have not been equalled since. 

Couch's 'A History of the Fishes of the British Islands', with coloured illustrations from his own drawings is a storehouse of information, carefully collected and sifted, as to the habits of fishes, and in many cases the illustrations give unique representations of the vivid natural colours of fishes while yet alive or immediately after death. 

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