Roesel von Rosenhof, August Johann.
(1753-)1758. Historia naturalis Ranarum nostratium / Die natürliche
Historie der Frösche hiesigen Landes. Johann Joseph Fleischmann,
Nürnberg, (10), viii, 115, 48 engraved plates (24 colored),
1 colored, engraved frontis, 8 vignettes. Folio.
August Johan Roesel was born into an Austrian noble family in Augustenburg, near Arnstadt, Germany on March 30, 1705. Following the early death of his father, his godmother, the reigning princess of Arnstadt-Schwarzburg, assumed responsibility for his education. She encouraged his artistic ability and in 1720 he was apprenticed to his uncle, Wilhem Roesel von Rosenhof, a well known painter. Four years later Rosel went to Nuremburg to continue his art training under the supervision of Johan Daniel Preisler.
In 1726 Rosel went to the Danish court in Copenhagen to paint portraits and minatures. His paintings were so well received that he was asked to settle in Denmark. Unwilling to stay in Denmark he returned to Germany in 1728. During his journey back to Nuremberg, a high fever forced him to to stay in Hamburg for four-weeks. While in Hamburg, an aquaintance brought him a copy of Maria Sybilla Merian's book, Metamorphosis insectorum surinamensium (1705). This book inspired Roesel to do a similar study of German species.
After returning to Nuremburg, Roesel began studying the local fauna in his spare time. After years of study, the first part of his Der monatlich-herausgegebenen Insecten-Belustigung was published (1740). The book was praised for its outstanding illustrations, but Roesel also defined insects systematically and divided them into natural groups. Today he is considered the Father of German Entology.
Insects were not the only animals Rosel was studying, and in
1753, the same year he added von Rosenhof to his name, the first
part of his Historia Naturalis Ranarum Nostratium/Die natürliche
Histoire der Frösche hiesigen Landes was published. This
book was completed in 1758 and Abrecht von Haller contributed
a preface to the work.
The text of this book is in parallel columns of Latin and German,
thus the double title. At a time when most zoological texts contained
mere descriptions of animals (e.g., Catesby 1731-43. The Natural
History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands; Seba
1734-1765. Locupletissimi rerum Naturalium Thesauri; or
Linnaeus 1759. Systema Naturae), Roesel von Rosenhof described
the natural history of amphibians in great detail. He could probably
be considered the Father of Herpetological Natural History.
Roesel von Rosenhof had begun a companion volume on lizards and salamanders, but in early 1759 a stroke paralyzed his left side. He died shortly after on March 27, 1759.
(The above text was writen from Adler 1989. Contributions to the History of Herpetology. SSAR, pp. 10-11; and Gues 1775. August Johan Roesel von Rosenhof. Dict. Sci. Biogr. 11:502-503.)
The illustrations in Historia naturalis Ranarum nostratium have long been considered the best frog illustrations ever produced. They have been duplicated and reprinted in books ever since they were first published. The 48 plates appear as duplicates, one in black & white with figure labels, and the other colored, without figure labels. Clearly the artist and the naturalist in Roesel von Rosenhof were in conflict over the illustrations. Fortunately, both artist and naturalist were satisfied by this arrangement and the result is a splendidly illustrated natural history study.
Wood (1931. Introduction to the Literature of Vertebrate Zoology, p. 541) states: The present volume is one of the classics of amphibiology. The illustrations are of the finest and the whole work is admirably done. The title and text appear both in Latin and German and there is a preface by A. von Haller - altogether a very valuable, early contribution to the literature of batrachia.
Nissen ZBI 3464
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