Brightly colored tropical fish, something that was very exciting back when they were sending ships with artists out to bring back images of the South Seas or whenever the investors wanted them brought back from. From the Journal des Museum Godeffroy, published in Hamburg, Germany by L. Friederichsen & Company. 1909 but it looks like it is a later edition of a work that first came out in 1873, according to the dates with it and the website where I found it originally.

A and B. Coria venusta (Sandwich Ins/Island) – C. Julis güntheri (Gesellschafts Ins/Island). Image 142 from Fische der Südsee Heft VIII Taf. 144, Beschrieben and redigieren von Albert C. L. G. Gunther, vormale Vorstand des Zoologischen Departments des Britischen Museums. Werner and Winter, Frankfurt, Chromolithographers. Published in 1909. Journal des Museum Goddefroy Heft XVI. American Museum of Natural History Library. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/journaldesmuseum06muse/page/n142/mode/1up
A. Coris annulata – B. Julis fusca.   Image 146 from Fische der Südsee Heft VII Taf. 148, Beschrieben and redigieren von Albert C. L. G. Gunther, vormale Vorstand des Zoologischen Departments des Britischen Museums. Werner and Winter, Frankfurt, Chromolithographers. Published in 1909. Journal des Museum Goddefroy Heft XVI. American Museum of Natural History Library. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/journaldesmuseum06muse/page/n148/mode/1up
A. Julis whitmii – B&C Julis duperreyi, male and female. Page 152 of Fische der Südsee Heft VIII Taf. 148, Beschrieben and redigieren von Albert C. L. G. Gunther, vormale Vorstand des Zoologischen Departments des Britischen Museums. J Green Chromolithographers. Published in 1909. Journal des Museum Goddefroy Heft XVI (Issue 16). American Museum of Natural History Library. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/journaldesmuseum06muse/page/n152/mode/1up
Callyodon sandwicensis. Page 158 of Fische der Südsee Heft VIII Taf. 151, Beschrieben and redigieren von Albert C. L. G. Gunther, vormale Vorstand des Zoologischen Departments des Britischen Museums. J Green Chromolithographers. Published in 1909. Journal des Museum Goddefroy Heft XVI. American Museum of Natural History Library. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/journaldesmuseum06muse/page/n158/mode/1up
Pseudocarus forsteri.  Page 166 of Fische der Südsee Heft VIII Taf. 155, Beschrieben and redigieren von Albert C. L. G. Gunther, vormale Vorstand des Zoologischen Departments des Britischen Museums. Werner and Winter, Frankfurt, Chromolithographers. Published in 1909. Journal des Museum Goddefroy Heft XVI. American Museum of Natural History Library. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/journaldesmuseum06muse/page/n166/mode/1up
A. Ophichthys Garretti (Gesellschafts Island) – B. Muraena xanthospila (Samoa).  Page 320 of Fische der Südsee Heft IXI Taf. 168, Beschrieben and redigieren von Albert C. L. G. Gunther, vormale Vorstand des Zoologischen Departments des Britischen Museums. J Green Chromolithographers. Published in 1909. Journal des Museum Goddefroy Heft IX. American Museum of Natural History Library. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/journaldesmuseum06muse/page/n320/mode/1up

Diodon bleekeri (Gesellschafts – Ins).  Page 350 of Fische der Südsee Heft IXI Taf. 178, Beschrieben and redigieren von Albert C. L. G. Gunther, vormale Vorstand des Zoologischen Departments des Britischen Museums. J Green Chromolithographers. Published in 1909. Journal des Museum Goddefroy Heft IX. American Museum of Natural History Library. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/journaldesmuseum06muse/page/n350/mode/1up?view=theater

I didn’t find this one by myself, either. I found it here https://schierenberg.nl/category/travel-and-exploration/product/64202 up for sale and then I found a scanned version on the Internet Archive. I think these plates and the book they are part were probably published as a series of articles and lithographs and then were turned into the book these are taken from. This would explain the varying dates.

Cigarette cards featuring images of fish, issued by the Piedmont brand of the American Tobacco Company. Dating to 1910-1919, they swim in the archives at the Alabama Department of Archives and History in Montgomery, Alabama.

Albino Brook Trout, Number 303. 1910-1919. American. One of a series of cigarette cards featuring images of fish, issued by the Piedmont brand of the American Tobacco Company. Collections of the Alabama Department of Archives and History. Artwork in the public domain due to age. via https://digital.archives.alabama.gov/digital/collection/photo/id/47173/rec/7

Blue Gill Sun Fish, Number 305. 1910-1919. American. One of a series of cigarette cards featuring images of fish, issued by the Piedmont brand of the American Tobacco Company. Collections of the Alabama Department of Archives and History. Artwork in the public domain due to age. via https://digital.archives.alabama.gov/digital/collection/photo/id/47175/rec/7
Canadian Red Trout Male, Number 311. 1910-1919. American. One of a series of cigarette cards featuring images of fish, issued by the Piedmont brand of the American Tobacco Company. Collections of the Alabama Department of Archives and History. Artwork in the public domain due to age. via https://digital.archives.alabama.gov/digital/collection/photo/id/47181/rec/7
Catfish, Number 312. 1910-1919. American. One of a series of cigarette cards featuring images of fish, issued by the Piedmont brand of the American Tobacco Company. Collections of the Alabama Department of Archives and History. Artwork in the public domain due to age. via https://digital.archives.alabama.gov/digital/collection/photo/id/47180/rec/7
Dog Fish or Mud Fish, Female, Number 318. 1910-1919. American. One of a series of cigarette cards featuring images of fish, issued by the Piedmont brand of the American Tobacco Company. Collections of the Alabama Department of Archives and History. Artwork in the public domain due to age. via https://digital.archives.alabama.gov/digital/collection/photo/id/47188/rec/7
Goldfish, Number 321. 1910-1919. American. One of a series of cigarette cards featuring images of fish, issued by the Piedmont brand of the American Tobacco Company. Collections of the Alabama Department of Archives and History. Artwork in the public domain due to age. via https://digital.archives.alabama.gov/digital/collection/photo/id/47191/rec/7
Lobster, Number 324. 1910-1919. American. One of a series of cigarette cards featuring images of fish, issued by the Piedmont brand of the American Tobacco Company. Collections of the Alabama Department of Archives and History. Artwork in the public domain due to age. via https://digital.archives.alabama.gov/digital/collection/photo/id/47194/rec/7
Pompano, Number 331. 1910-1919. American. One of a series of cigarette cards featuring images of fish, issued by the Piedmont brand of the American Tobacco Company. Collections of the Alabama Department of Archives and History. Artwork in the public domain due to age. via https://digital.archives.alabama.gov/digital/collection/photo/id/47201/rec/7
Rose Fish, Number 342. 1910-1919. American. One of a series of cigarette cards featuring images of fish, issued by the Piedmont brand of the American Tobacco Company. Collections of the Alabama Department of Archives and History. Artwork in the public domain due to age. via https://digital.archives.alabama.gov/digital/collection/photo/id/47212/rec/7
Porpoise, Number 333. 1910-1919. American. One of a series of cigarette cards featuring images of fish, issued by the Piedmont brand of the American Tobacco Company. Collections of the Alabama Department of Archives and History. Artwork in the public domain due to age. via https://digital.archives.alabama.gov/digital/collection/photo/id/47203/rec/7

There are six screens worth of fish in the archive. This is a small selection. You can visit them all here https://digital.archives.alabama.gov/digital/collection/photo/id/47173/rec/7

“Hawaiian Fishes”. Published in 1905 in Honolulu by the Island Curio Company. David Starr Jordan and B.W. Evermann with Illustrations attributed to A. H. Baldwin, Charles Bradford Hudson and Kako Morita. More fishes from what I think was an earlier or later edition, too.

Front cover of David Starr Jordan and B.W. Evermann’s Hawaiian Fishes. 1905. American. Collections of the Biodiversity Heritage Library. Uploaded by the Smithsonian Library and Archives. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/hawaiianfishes00jord/mode/1up
Hawaiian Fish Humuhumu. Page 1 of David Starr Jordan and B.W. Evermann’s Hawaiian Fishes. 1905. American. Collections of the Biodiversity Heritage Library. Uploaded by the Smithsonian Library and Archives. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/hawaiianfishes00jord/mode/1up
Hawaiian Fish Kihikihi. Page 2 of David Starr Jordan and B.W. Evermann’s Hawaiian Fishes. 1905. American. Collections of the Biodiversity Heritage Library. Uploaded by the Smithsonian Library and Archives. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/hawaiianfishes00jord/mode/2up
Hawaiian Fish Kapuhili. Page 3 of David Starr Jordan and B.W. Evermann’s Hawaiian Fishes. 1905. American. Collections of the Biodiversity Heritage Library. Uploaded by the Smithsonian Library and Archives. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/hawaiianfishes00jord/mode/3up
Hawaiian Fish Hinalea. Page 4 of David Starr Jordan and B.W. Evermann’s Hawaiian Fishes. 1905. American. Collections of the Biodiversity Heritage Library. Uploaded by the Smithsonian Library and Archives. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/hawaiianfishes00jord/mode/4up
Hawaiian Fish Nakunuku. Page 5 of David Starr Jordan and B.W. Evermann’s Hawaiian Fishes. 1905. American. Collections of the Biodiversity Heritage Library. Uploaded by the Smithsonian Library and Archives. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/hawaiianfishes00jord/mode/5up
Hawaiian Fish Ohua. Page 6 of David Starr Jordan and B.W. Evermann’s Hawaiian Fishes. 1905. American. Collections of the Biodiversity Heritage Library. Uploaded by the Smithsonian Library and Archives. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/hawaiianfishes00jord/page/n6/mode/1up
Hawaiian Fish Chastodon. Page 7 of David Starr Jordan and B.W. Evermann’s Hawaiian Fishes. 1905. American. Collections of the Biodiversity Heritage Library. Uploaded by the Smithsonian Library and Archives. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/hawaiianfishes00jord/page/n7/mode/1up
Hawaiian Fish Julis Eydouxi. Page 8 of David Starr Jordan and B.W. Evermann’s Hawaiian Fishes. 1905. American. Collections of the Biodiversity Heritage Library. Uploaded by the Smithsonian Library and Archives. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/hawaiianfishes00jord/page/n8/mode/1up
Hawaiian Fish Hilupilikoa. Page 10 of David Starr Jordan and B.W. Evermann’s Hawaiian Fishes. 1905. American. Collections of the Biodiversity Heritage Library. Uploaded by the Smithsonian Library and Archives. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/hawaiianfishes00jord/page/n9/mode/1up
Hawaiian Fish Akilolo. Page 11 of David Starr Jordan and B.W. Evermann’s Hawaiian Fishes. 1905. American. Collections of the Biodiversity Heritage Library. Uploaded by the Smithsonian Library and Archives. In the public domain due to age. via https://archive.org/details/hawaiianfishes00jord/page/n10/mode/thumb
Front cover of Hawaiian Fishes. ca. 1905. American. Souvenir book, published immediately after the Honolulu Aquarium (now the Waikiki Aquarium) was founded in 1904. James Steiner. The Island Curio Company, publisher. Printed in Germany. © 2024 James E. Arsenault and Company. Fair use license. Artwork itself in the public domain due to age. via https://www.jamesarsenault.com/pages/books/8220/james-steiner/hawaiian-fishes

Hawaiian Flying Fish Malolo. ca. 1905. American. Taken from the souvenir book Hawaiian Fishes, published immediately after the Honolulu Aquarium (now the Waikiki Aquarium) was founded in 1904. James Steiner. The Island Curio Company, publisher. Printed in Germany. © 2024 James E. Arsenault and Company. Fair use license. Artwork itself in the public domain due to age. via https://www.jamesarsenault.com/pages/books/8220/james-steiner/hawaiian-fishes
Hawaiian Fish Laipala.ca. 1905. American. Taken from the souvenir book Hawaiian Fishes, published immediately after the Honolulu Aquarium (now the Waikiki Aquarium) was founded in 1904. James Steiner. The Island Curio Company, publisher. Printed in Germany. © 2024 James E. Arsenault and Company. Fair use license. Artwork itself in the public domain due to age. via https://www.jamesarsenault.com/pages/books/8220/james-steiner/hawaiian-fishes
Hawaiian Fish Kala.ca. 1905. American. Taken from the souvenir book Hawaiian Fishes, published immediately after the Honolulu Aquarium (now the Waikiki Aquarium) was founded in 1904. James Steiner. The Island Curio Company, publisher. Printed in Germany. © 2024 James E. Arsenault and Company. Fair use license. Artwork itself in the public domain due to age. via https://www.jamesarsenault.com/pages/books/8220/james-steiner/hawaiian-fishes
Hawaiian Fish Nohu. Odd Shapes and Bright Colors are Peculiar to Island Fishes. ca. 1905. American. Taken from the souvenir book Hawaiian Fishes, published immediately after the Honolulu Aquarium (now the Waikiki Aquarium) was founded in 1904. James Steiner. The Island Curio Company, publisher. Printed in Germany. © 2024 James E. Arsenault and Company. Fair use license. Artwork itself in the public domain due to age. via https://www.jamesarsenault.com/pages/books/8220/james-steiner/hawaiian-fishes

The illustrations from the copy of Hawaiian Fishes with the red cover are reproduced from selected images appearing in The shore fishes of the Hawaiian Islands with a general account of the fish fauna, by David Starr Jordan and B.W. Evermann (part 1 of The aquatic resources of the Hawaiian Islands, published between 1905 and 1906; based on specimens collected by the United States Fish Commission during the 1902 expedition of the steamer Albatross)

Illustrations attributed to A. H. Baldwin, Charles Bradford Hudson and Kako Morita, based on their names appearing as illustrator on similar plates in The aquatic resources of the Hawaiian Islands. The images are taken from a scanned version in the Collections of the Biodiversity Heritage Library. Uploaded by the Smithsonian Library and Archives, it is available on the Internet Archive.

Also a few more fish from what looks to be a different edition of the same Hawaiian Fishes but with the cover being blue not red. These having been found up for sale by the rare book dealer James A. Arsenault with the description on their website stating that:

This appealing souvenir book, published immediately after the Honolulu Aquarium (now the Waikiki Aquarium) was founded in 1904, reproduces illustrations made by A. H. Baldwin, Charles Bradford Hudson (who was actually in Honolulu in 1901, sketching local fish), and the Japanese painter Kako Morita. According to the promotional information on the rear paste-down, the Aquarium typically displayed “600 to 1000 fishes of approximately 200 varieties. Those shown in the pictures published herewith are only a few of the most striking specimens.” These illustrations include the “Humuhumu,” the state fish of Hawaii, alongside several other fish native to Hawaii’s waters. Unlike the scientific captions accompanying The Aquatic Resources’ illustrations, this collection presents the fish with their Hawaiian names, with occasional comments on the peculiarity of fish in Hawaii. The promotional material contends that “[l]anguage cannot do this subject [Hawaii’s fish] justice. No words can accurately portray what one has seen here. The fish are odd in shape and have all the hues of the rainbow. The tints are laid on as if with a brush and yet no painter could imitate them. No visitor to Honolulu should fail to see the Aquarium.” The promotion further notes that the Aquarium “is visited by about 50,000 persons annually” who are each charged “[a]n admission fee of 25 cents’’ to assist with “operating, enlarging and improving the exhibit.” The fish of the Aquarium, once pictured by the Island Curio Co., “became mass commodities in a visual economy of images that linked Hawai‘i with America and Europe” (“Extended Personhood”).


As far as I can determine I haven’t used these chromolithographs before. I’ve found them on their website before and it is it’s own post. Should I be mistaken well these are fun images and I for one am happy to see them again with new fish to add to the school.

More selections from “A Portfolio of Fish.” American fish beautifully portrayed by illustrator Miles Rost. From the 1930s. All from the website of archive.org. Collections of the Carlsbad City Library, Carlsbad, California.

“Lake Erie Herring (Leveichthys artedi) Natural size.” Number 77 in “A Portfolio of Fish”. Published in 1935. Rost Miles, illustrator. Collections of the Carlsbad City Library. In the public domain. via https://archive.org/details/ccarl_000081
“Rock bass (Ambloplites rupestris Rafinesque)”. Number 61 Number 77 in “A Portfolio of Fish”. Published in 1935. Rost Miles, illustrator. Collections of the Carlsbad City Library. In the public domain. via https://archive.org/details/ccarl_000065
“Marlin”. From “A Portfolio of Fish”. Published in 1935. Rost Miles, illustrator. Collections of the Carlsbad City Library. In the public domain. via https://archive.org/details/ccarl_000134

Fish. Fish a little while ago, that is, plates taken from Jonathan Couch’s work “A history of the fishes of the British islands.” Volume I. Published in London by Groombridge in 1868-1869.

“Surmullet.” Plate XLVII, Page 209. Collections of and digitalized by the Marine Biological Library, Woods Hole. In the public domain due to age. via https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/17691#page/316/mode/1up
“Red Mullet.” Plate XLVIII. Page 217. Collections of and digitalized by the Marine Biological Library, Woods Hole. In the public domain due to age. via https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/17691#page/326/mode/1up
“Bogue.” Plate L. Page 224. Collections of and digitalized by the Marine Biological Library, Woods Hole. In the public domain due to age. via https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/17691#page/338/mode/1up
“Becker. Plate LI. Page 229. Collections of and digitalized by the Marine Biological Library, Woods Hole. In the public domain due to age. via https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/17691#page/343/mode/1up
“Couch’s Sea Bream.” Plate LII. Page 230. Collections of and digitalized by the Marine Biological Library, Woods Hole. In the public domain due to age. via https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/17691#page/348/mode/1up

Fantastical fish, some real, some imaginary. Taken from Louis Renard’s work “Poissons, ecrevisses et crabes, de diverses couleurs et figures extraordinaires, que l’on trouve autour des isles Moluques et sur les côtes des terres Australes: peints d’après nature …” The first edition came out in 1718 and 1719. These are taken from the second edition, published in Amsterdam in 1754.

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Page 21. Collections of and digitalized by the Ernst Mayr Library, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University. In the public domain. via https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/200575#page/21/mode/1up

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Page 25. Collections of and digitalized by the Ernst Mayr Library, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University. In the public domain. via https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/200575#page/25/mode/1up

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Page 23. Collections of and digitalized by the Ernst Mayr Library, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University. In the public domain. via https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/200575#page/23/mode/1up

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Page 27. Collections of and digitalized by the Ernst Mayr Library, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University. In the public domain. via https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/200575#page/27/mode/1up