Prang, Louis. “Aswail, Or Sloth Bear.”

Louis Prang.  “Aswail, Or Sloth Bear.”  From J. G. Wood, Animate Creation; Popular Edition of “Our Living World,” A Natural History. 

New York: Selmar Hess, ca. 1880.  8 x 5 (image). Chromolithograph.  Full margins.  Very good condition.  

A print from a charming natural history series by the popular 19th-century lithographer, Louis Prang.  After leaving Germany in the 1840s, Prang established himself in Boston, going on to become one of the more skillful and diverse of American illustrators and printmakers.  He is well known for his fine art chromolithographs and greeting cards, as well as his book illustrations.

These illustrations for an ambitious 19th-century natural history are among his most appealing.  The various birds, mammals, insects and sea creatures are not only rendered with care and delicacy, they are placed in colorful and richly designed landscape environments.  The result is a group of striking and memorable images.