Animal: A Beastly Compendium

Fishes, crayfishes and crabs of various extraordinary colours and shapes to be Found around the Moluccan islands and on the shores of lands in the southern hempishere by louis Renard

In 1719, Louis Renard published the drawings of Samuel Fallours, an employee of the Dutch East India Company posted in the Moluccan Archipelago.

This was one of the first attempts to depict tropical saltwater fish. Renard insists on the images’ authenticity, but the vivid colours and fantastical forms present a startling sight. Publisher Renard was simultaneously working as a commercial broker and spy in the service of the

British Crown.

Edited extract from

Animal: A Beastly

Compendium by Rémi Mathis and Valérie Sueur-hermel. Published by Bloomsbury Visual Arts. RRP £30.

Treasures from the prints and photographs

department at the Bibliotheque Nationale

de France