Adriaen Coenen's Fish Book (1580)

Selected double-page spreads from Adriaen Coenen’s Visboek (Fish Book), an epic 800+ page tome on all things fish and fish-related. Coenen began work on this unique book in 1577, at the age of 63, and in three years gathered an unprecedented amount of information on the sea and its coasts, coastal waters, fishing grounds and marine animals. The information was largely gathered in the course of Coenen’s daily work in the Dutch sea-side village of Scheveningen as a fisherman and fish auctioneer and, later on, as wreck master of Holland (allowing him access to every strange creature that washed ashore). Coenen was also a well respected authority in academic circles and used this reputation to receive learned works on the sea from The Hague and Leiden, copied extracts from which find their way into his Fish Book. Indeed, much of the Fish Book borrows and quotes from other texts, including Olaus Magnus‘ Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus.

Strange anecdotes and legends, often recounted in pamphlets, prove a fertile source too – one of the most notable being the case of the “tunnyfish” (f49v) caught in 1561 in the Mediterranean Sea near Ceuta that had tattoo or drawing-like marks on its skin that looked like images of ships. Large swathes of the book are dedicated to reports of strange mythical sightings of creatures such as the “zeebisschop”, a creature described as possessing a hat, a wand, slippers, a chasuble, and gloves; or a 17 foot long sea monster (f52v) which appeared on the Brazilian coast in 1564 standing on its hind flippers. As well as the eclectic and detailed text, Coenen’s book is, of course, notable for its exquisite manner of presentation. Every page becomes a work of art in its own right, decorated with painted borders and delightful watercolours. Two years after its completion, Coenen produced another book this time dedicated solely to whales, known as the Whale Book (now housed in Antwerp).

The digital copies of the Visboek presented here have been spliced together to create the double spread and are all sourced from The National Library of the Netherlands which has digitised the whole of the Visboek and includes a wonderful (flash-based) digital presentation with extensive notes and commentary on individual pages, if you are interested to learn more. (Courtesy Public Domain Review) Click photo to enlarge.

Historic flag update. Your word for the day is Vexillology. Vexillology is the "scientific study of the history, symbolism and usage of flags".

A couple weeks ago I wrote about the 1895, Hopkinson Pattern, 13 Star, maritime or nautical American flag we had for sale. You can read about this flag here. Good news, it sold right away. Today I want to share some other historic flags we have in inventory.

 Sold

The first one is from Australia and was made around 1908-1910. Another beautiful old flag.  Brass rivets hold it to its original wooden, 64" tall, pole. 24 x 38. Made in the USA.
Annin and Co., of New York (since moved to New Jersey.) Sterling was their brand name for one of their grades of wool bunting. The Australian Red Ensign Merchant Flag.

The Commonwealth Government Federal Design Competition required an official flag and a merchant or shipping version of the same design. As a result, the official flag was blue and the merchant flag was the traditional Red Ensign, featuring the distinctive Southern Cross and Commonwealth star. In 1903, the Southern Cross stars were altered from nine, eight, seven, six and five points, to four, with seven points and one five-pointed star. The original variety of points was an indication of the relative brightness of each star as it appeared in the night sky. You can read more about this flag here
It is available for purchase here

The second one is from the same 1908-1910 period and is from Denmark. Brass rivets hold it to its original wooden, 64" tall, pole. 24 x 38. Made in the USA. Annin and Co., of New York (since moved to New Jersey.) Sterling was their brand name for one of their grades of wool bunting.For a complete history of "The Flag of the Danes" go here. It is available for purchase here

The third historic flag we have in stock is ca. 1920 and is from Canada. Brass rivets hold it to its original wooden, 64" tall, pole. 24 x 38. Made in the USA. This one is frayed on the side of the Coat of Arms, see picture. The price is lower because of this damage. Annin and Co., of New York (since moved to New Jersey.) Sterling was their brand name for one of their grades of wool bunting.
Inquire for shipping to Canada. 

The term Red Ensign is often used to refer to the Canadian Red Ensign, the former de facto national flag of Canada. It was informally adopted following Canadian Confederation in 1867 and, from 1892, it was the official flag for use on Canadian merchant ships. On land, however, the official national flag was the Union Flag. Despite its unofficial status, the Red Ensign was widely used on land as well. In 1924, the Red Ensign was approved for use on Canadian government buildings outside Canada, and from 1945 for those inside Canada as well. Interestingly The Hudsons Bay Company used this for their corporate flag as well. It is available for purchase here

The academic field that studies flags is called Vexillogy. A flag collector is called a vexillophile.