Goldfish Journal — Martinet 1780 Dragon Eyes Engraving

Carry the wonder of the gilded fish of China — when Billardon de Sauvigny's landmark monograph Histoire naturelle des dorades de la Chine (Paris, 1780) introduced 88 varieties of ornamental goldfish to European science, and François-Nicolas Martinet — court engraver of Buffon's Histoire naturelle des oiseaux — transformed Chinese imperial fish into objects of Enlightenment wonder: the front cover presents Plate 22 with three varieties of Long-Tsing-Yu or Dragon Eyes goldfish rendered in meticulous hand-colored detail — Le Rouillé (golden-brown), Le Cerise (deep red), and Le Léopard (mottled) — on an aqua-green ground with French and Chinese scientific annotations, framed by a dark navy koi and lotus pattern border, while the back cover presents a companion plate depicting Le Souci and La Capucine with Chinese calligraphic annotations preserving the cross-cultural exchange that made this the first European monograph dedicated exclusively to goldfish.

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Product Details:

• Format: Hardcover journal with matte laminated full-wrap cover
• Pages: 150 lined pages (75 sheets) with perforations for easy removal
• Binding: Casewrap sewn binding that lays flat and flexes for comfortable writing
• Dimensions: 5.5 × 8.5 inches, lightweight and portable
• Weight: 0.1 kg
• Cover: Martinet 1780 hand-colored goldfish engravings from Billardon de Sauvigny Histoire naturelle des dorades de la Chine — full-wrap with matte finish; small 0.5"×0.5" production barcode on back

Perfect For:

• Aquarists and koi/goldfish enthusiasts
• Natural history collectors and ichthyology students
• Admirers of 18th-century French Enlightenment science
• Collectors of hand-colored engravings and zoological illustration
• Students of Sino-European cultural exchange
• Ornamental fish breeders and aquaculture historians