Antique Ceph Print.

[Phil]

I've just managed to get hold of this rather nice 1833 antique print of various cephs off an internet site. I think it'll look quite nice in a frame in my front room.

 

[The Moog]

Lovely, I think it will go nicely in between the spitfire piccie and the portrait of Sir Thomas More, (or whoever it is).
How did you find it?

 

[Clem]

Lovely, I think it will go nicely in between the spitfire piccie and the portrait of Sir Thomas More, (or whoever it is).

Quite so, Moog. The nautiloid shapes do recall the supercharger on a Spit's Merlin.

Phil, what species are shown on that there print? Can you give us a close-up on the legend?

Clem

 

[Phil]

Clem,

Personally I thought the supercharger on the Mark XIV Griffin engined Spitfire bore more similarity. The Rolls-Royce Merlin Mk. III tended to resemble the upper radula in the Late Triassic nautiloid Cenoceras. IMHO, that is.

Anyway, I can't really tell you what is on that early Victorian engraving as it has not turned up in the post yet. I took that photo directly off the site I bought it off so I can't really comment on what exactly is represented just yet. I'll let you know when it turns up.

Phil

BTW The Thomas More painting came into my possession in a similar manner to the large ammonite recently. Plenty of alcohol and a pub was involved!

 

[Clem]

Phil,

I didn't want to use the Griffon Spit as an example, because there are those who say it isn't a "real" Spitfire. Not me, though.

If you want an aero-engine that achieves the fossil-ceph trifecta, have a look at the Daimler-Benz DB 624. It's got an ammonite for a supercharger, a belemnite for a supercharger-intake and Diplomoceras for an exhaust manifold.

Like "The Simpsons," cephalopods can be related to everything.



Clem

 

[Phil]

.....I can feel it in my water........this is all going to get very silly........

 

[Phil]

I've managed to get another antique print. They will make quite a nice pair when they turn up. This one is dated 1878:

Here it is, with more of a cryptozoological theme than the other:

 

[Melissa]

Phil, this is really marvelous! I could start lurking the auction sites - this could be worse than my pastry habit.

Melissa

 

[Phil]

Cheers Melissa!

The first of these two prints turned up in the post this morning. I'll have a look and post exactly what's on it tomorrow. I don't think I dare risk putting it on the scanner for a better picture than the one posted already; I don't really want to submit a 180 year old print to high intensity light as you can appreciate.

It's interesting to see an engraving depicting morphology twenty years or so before The Origin of Species was published. Engravings like this show that the groundwork for Darwin's theories was to an extent prepared before he tied it all together in his synthesis. Interesting to see scientific illustrations from this early period.

Phil

 

[Phil]

Phil, what species are shown on that there print? Can you give us a close-up on the legend?

Well, running left to right in rows we have listed:

1) Octopus Cuvierii
2) Portion of Arm of Eldone moschatus
3) Argonata argo
4) Loligo Brogniartii
5) Sepia officinalis
6) Extremity of Arm and inner rudiment of Onychoteuthis angulata
7) Nautilus pompilius
8) Spirula australis

(Spellings and capitalisations are as on the print, not mine).

Decided to risk another scan - attached if anyone is interested.