| Description | Jean Louis Rudolphe AGASSIZ, unpublished drawings and watercolours of fossil fish principally by Joseph Dinkel, J C Weber, Sixtus Heinrich Jarwart and G A H Köppel. Arranged in 3 folders called folios 1,2, & 3, containing 568 sheets of pictures, [1829-1845]. |
| Administrative History | The images were mostly drawn as part of the research for Louis Agassiz's 'Recherches sur les Poissons Fossiles' (1833-1843/1844) but never included in the final publication (although there may be a few exceptions). However there is an indication in A S Woodward's & C Sherborn's 'A catalogue of British fossil vertebra' (1890) that the names of some of specimens were still cited within Agassiz's text.
As the drawings were mostly unpublished, very few are given proper captions. Instead there are light pencil captions on some of the drawings which are not always legible. It is unclear who has written the captions [many are presumably by Agassiz and his artists] as a number have question marks after them. The most likely answer is that the names of the specimens were still fluid, and that they were recategorised as Agassiz's research progressed.
Occasionally recorded on the drawings in Agassiz's hand are different species names or notes which reference earlier publications on the subject, mainly: Henri-Marie Ducrotay de Blainville's, 'Sur les ichthyolites ou les poissons fossiles' (1818) & Giovanni Serafino Volta's 'Ittiolitologia veronese del Museo Bozziano ora annesso a quello del Conte Giovambattista Gazola e di altri gabinetti di fossili veronesi' (1796). These works are also cited within Agassiz's published text. |
| ArchNote | Sources: Agassiz, J L R. 'Recherches sur les Poissons Fossiles' (1833-1844) [index]; Woodward, A S & Charles Sherborn. 'A catalogue of British fossil vertebra', London (1890) [index]; Andrews, S M. 'The discovery of fossil fishes in Scotland up to 1845', Edinburgh: Royal Scottish Museum, (1982); Cleevely, R J. 'World Palaeontological Collections', London: Mansell Publishing Ltd, (1983); Collie, M & J Diemer. "Murchison in Moray: A geologist on home ground...', Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, (1995). Original basic fonds description by John Thackray (April 1985), itemised listing by S M [Mahala] Andrews (1977-1981), revised by Caroline Lam (2013-2024). |