1762
One of the earliest books to use hand colored plates
Plate Boletus filous [copperplate engraving]

Schäffer, Jacob Christian, 1718-1790.
Fungorum qui in Bavaria et Palatinatu circa Ratisbonam nascuntur icones.

[1762-1774.]

Image Courtesy of the Farlow Library of Cryptogamic Botany

Note the difference in color of these two versions of the same edition of Schäffer's work.

Jacob Christian Schäffer (1718-1790) is probably most well known for his research on alternative ways of paper-making. He studied at Halle and spent almost his whole working life in Regensburg, where he served as an evangelical clergyman.

Schäffer was a man of many interests, he combined his theological studies with exhaustive studies of nature. His comprehensive book on mushrooms, Fungorum qui in Bavaria et Palatinatu..., was considered the standard work on the subject till well into the nineteenth century. Schäffer was the first to describe sterigmata in agaric, bolete, and clavaria and the first to use hand colored plates. .