Die Vögel Mitteleuropas

A work of wonders - now with 80 previously unpublished watercolors. Johann Friedrich Naumann lived in a time of scientific awakening and was part of the avant-garde of this movement. Suddenly, all over Europe, people looked at nature with interest, researching, traveling, discovering, cataloging, and classifying. In retrospect, it can be said that this movement, which was perhaps most vibrant in England and progressed most systematically, led a few decades later to Darwin's theory of evolution, which established a new foundation for natural research. At that time, Naumann was undoubtedly regarded as the greatest ornithologist in Germany. His fundamental achievement was the natural history of the birds of Germany, the final volume of which was published in the summer of 1844. He personally drew and engraved all 380 illustrations in copper. The watercolor templates are breathtaking. Never before has there been a comparably thorough book about the German avifauna, enriched with so much expertise and personal experience, and one had to wait until the 20th century to discover anything even remotely equivalent.