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Mycological Illustration:
In a paper read before the Botanical Society of Washington, D.C. in December 1921, mycologist L. C. C. Krieger pointed out that illustrations are essential for the correct identification of fleshy fungi. He noted that the best illustrations accurately portray the organism’s size, shape, color, and other physical characteristics.
Unfortunately, early naturalists faced many obstacles in their attempts to document the fungi they observed. They often lacked fresh specimens, had use of only primitive printing techniques, and in some cases, suffered from overactive imaginations!
The earliest example of a printed fungus appears in the work, Ortus Sanitatis (1491) and was created using the technique of wood block printing. The process begins by drawing or tracing the subject onto the surface of a block of wood, and then the lines or areas that are to be left white or unprinted are cut away with a knife or gouge. Ink is rolled over the wood block design and the block is pressed onto the paper to complete the printing process. The resulting black and white image is often quite striking, but lacks the detail to identify species. Nevertheless, the process was in general use throughout the 15th and 16th centuries.
Early naturalists were not only hampered by their inability to produce precise colored images of fungi; they also had to measure the fanciful notions promulgated by contemporary herbalists. One of the most amusing of these is the work of Dr. Georgius Seger (plate 1). In his work, Anthropomorphus, Seger illustrates a geaster, or star fungi, bursting open to free the tiny men and women who seem to be trapped inside. While the image does hold a certain charm, it does nothing to advance the serious study of mycology.
The work of illustrators was greatly enhanced by the introduction of steel and copperplate engraving in the 17th century. This method involves cutting lines into the copper to create what is known as a burr. The carved lines hold the ink, rather than the raised surfaces in wood black printing, to create a more refined image. Shading is be added by crosshatching the metal to achieve a greater sense of form and depth. The finished plate is inked and pressed against the paper, and then run through two rollers to produce a clean, sharp image. Still, these images were of limited use unless colored by hand.
By the mid 18th century a method was devised to add color to the engraved plate. Johann Wilhelm Weinmann (1683-1741), was the first mycologist use this method in his Phytanthoza Iconographia (1737-1745). Unfortunately, his illustrations lacked both accuracy and clarity, and proved that another method for color printing was needed.
The quality of mycological illustration did improve in the late 1700’s because naturalists employed artists to hand color plates. These illustrations were generally more accurate and identifiable, but the practice was costly, time consuming, and often lacked consistency. The colorists often painted the plates differently. In some cases the differences were subtle, but there were many examples of the same mushroom portrayed in totally different colors.
Jacob Christian Schaeffer (1718-1790) was one of the earliest mycologists to use this technique in his work Fungorum qui in Bavaria et Palatinatu circa Ratisbonam nascuntur icones. Notice that the plates in this exhibit are each colored slightly differently.
Printing was revolutionized in the 1800’s with the birth of lithographic printing. The process of lithography was actually invented in 1798 by Bavarian actor Alois Senfelder, but he kept it a secret until about 1818. Senfelder’s use of his invention was so poor that lithography did not catch on until the mid-1800s.
The lithographic process is much different from the earlier methods of printing. Colored inks are applied to a grease-treated image on a flat printing surface. Blank areas that hold moisture repel the lithographic ink. The inked surface is then printed directly onto paper. Finally, mycologists had a technique that gave them necessary detail and consistent application of color. The earliest examples of mycological lithographs are from the 1860s.
All these printing tools did not necessarily ensure quality. Look to Max Britzelmayr's Hymenomyceten aus Sudbayern (Plate 2) published in 1895. C.G. Lloyd pronounced it the "poorest excuse for an illustrated work on fungi" that he had ever seen. Many works were published during the age of lithography, some superlative but others very rudimentary.
The dawn of the 20th century brought a host of new printing processes. Collotype, heliotype, and half-tone were just a few, but none had the impact on the nature of scientific illustration as lithography - until the introduction of photography.
Colored photographs provided scientists with a true view of their specimens. Now scientists were able to combine photographs with illustrations to provide other mycologists with the most accurate and detailed view.
Milestones in the history of Mycological Illustration:
1491 The first illustration of a fungus was published.
Ortus sanitatis. De herbis et plantis. De animalibus et reptilibus. De avibus et volatilibus. De piscibus et
natatilibus. De lapidibus et in terre venis nascentibus. De urinis et earum speciebus.
[Moguntia. 1491.]
1560 The first published image of a fungus where it is possible to identify the genus.
Mattioli, Pietro Andrea, 1500-1577.
Commentarii secundo aucti, in libros sex Pedacii Dioscoridis, Anazarbei de medica materia: adiectis quamplurimis
plantarum, & animalium imaginibus, quæ in priore editione non habentur …
[Venetiis : in officina Valgrisiana, 1554, 1560 printing.]
1601 The first full monograph written on fungi.
Clusius, Carolinus, 1526-1609.
Rariorum plantarum historia Quae accesserint, proxima pagina docebit.
[Antwerpiae : Ex Officina Plantiniana, apud Joannem Moretum, 1601.]
1665 The first illustration of microfungi and the first account of the internal structure of
mushrooms is published.
Hooke, Robert, 1635-1703.
Micrographia: or some physiological descriptions of minute bodies made by magnifying glasses: with observations
and inquiries thereupon.
[London : Printed by Jo.Martyn, and Ja.Allestry, M DC LX V (1665).]
1675 The first copperplate engraving of fungi.
Sterbeeck, Franciscus van, 1631-1693.
Theatrum fungorum oft het Tooneel der Campernoelien
[T'Antwerpen, By I. Iacobs, 1675.]
1729 Micheli was the first to point out that fungi definitely have reproductive bodies or spores.
Many believe this book marks the birth of mycology.
Micheli, Pier Antonio, 1679-1737.
Noua plantarum genera: iuxta Tournefortii methodum disposita quibus plantæ …
[Florentiæ. : Typis Bernardi Paperinii ..., MDCCXXVIIII 1729.]
1737 The first mycology publication to use color printed engraved plates.
Weinmann, Johann Wilhelm 1683-1741.
Phytanthoza Iconographia
[Ratisbonae, 1737-1745]
1762 One of the earliest books to use hand colored plates.
Schäffer, Jacob Christian, 1718-1790.
Fungorum qui in Bavaria et Palatinatu circa Ratisbonam nascuntur icones.
[1762-1774.]
1780-1791 This is the first book where the engraving itself was colored before printing.
Bulliard, Pierre, 1752-1793.
Histoire des champignons de la France; ou, Traité élémentaire renfermant dans un ordre méthodique les descriptions et
les figures des champignons qui croissent naturellement en France
[Paris, l'auteur, 1791.]
1801-1839 An excellent example of colored copperplate printing.
Sturm, Jacob, 1771-1848.
Deutschlands flora in abbildungen nach der natur mit beschreibungen.
[Nürnberg, 1801-1839.]
1821 The first plates of American fungi.
Schweinitz, Lewis David von, 1780-1834.
Synopsis fungorum Carolinae superioris secundum observationes ...
[Ed. a D.F. Schwaegrichen ... n.p., 1822]
1830 These plates were hand colored and issued with a series of wax models. Trattnick was also the first to use the term "mycelium".
Trattinnick, Leopold, 1764-1849.
Fungi austriaci delectu singulari iconibus XL observationibusque illustrati auctore Leopoldo Trattinnick.
[Wien, C. Gerold, 1830.]
1851 Mycological illustrators now began to show the inner workings of the fungi.
Tulasne, Louis René, 1815-1885.
Fungi hypogæi. Histoire et monographie des champignons hypogés ...
[Parisiis, apud F. Klincksieck, 1851.]
1860 Among the first mycological works printed using lithography.
Price, Sarah.
Illustrations of the fungi of our fields and woods.
Drawn from natural specimens by Sarah Price.
[Published for the author by Lovell Reeve & Co., 5, Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, 1864-65.]
1904 An early example of tri-color printing.
Hollos, Laszlo, 1859-1940.
Gasteromycetes Hungariae: Die Gasteromyceten Ungarns…
[Leipzig: Oswald Weigel, 1904]
1905 One of the earliest examples of photographs of fungi, both black & white
and hand tinted, being used to illustrate a work.
Marshall, Nina Lovering
The mushroom book. A popular guide to the identification and study of our commoner Fungi…
[Doubleday, 1905]
1905-1910 One of the finest examples of color printed lithography.
Boudier, Émile, 1828-1920.
Icones mycologicæ, ou Iconographie des champignons de France principalement
Discomycetes avec texte descriptif par Émile Boudier.
[Paris, P. Klincksieck, L. Lhomme, Successeur, 1905-10.]
1929 Another excellent examples of lithographic printing.
Farlow, W. G. (William Gilson), 1844-1919.
Icones Farlowianae : illustrations of the larger Fungi of eastern North America
[ Cambridge, Mass. : The Farlow Library and Herbarium of Harvard University, 1929 (Boston : Merrymount Press)]
1935-40 An early example of collotype printing.
Lange, Jakob E., 1864-1941
Flora Agaricina Danica
[Copenhagen: Recato a/s, 1935-40]
Sources:
Ainsworth, G. C. (Geoffrey Clough), 1905-
Introduction to the history of mycology
Cambridge [Eng.] ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1976.
Australian National University, School of Resources, Environment & Society
Forest Products Technology Department
Woodblocks for Printmaking
http://sres.anu.edu.au/associated/fpt/nwfp/woodblock/woodblock.html
Burch, R. M.
Colour printing and colour printers
London : I. Pitman, 1910.
Butler, A. H. Reginald
The Fungus Lore of the Greeks and Romans
Transactions of the British Mycological Society, v.5:1, p.21-66, 1915
Gascoigne, Bamber
Milestones in colour printing 1457-1859 : with a bibliography of Nelson prints.
Cambridge, U.K. ; New York, NY, USA : Cambridge University Press, 1997.
Krieger, L. C. C. (Louis Charles Christopher), 1873-1940.
A sketch of the history of mycological illustration (higher fungi).
Mycologia, v.14:6, p.311-331, pl.24-31, 1922.
Rea, Emma Amy
Notes on Fungus Illustrations
Transactions of the British Mycological Society, v.5:2, p.211-228, 1916
University of Delaware Library
Color Printing in the Nineteenth Century
http://www.lib.udel.edu/ud/spec/exhibits/color/