[INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS]. Abbildungen der Bewohner der Erde,

aus den besten Schriften zusammengestellt … … Nürnberg : Christoph Fembo, 1816. Broadsheet, 610 x 500 mm, copper engraving with original hand colouring; light creasing, some short edge tears and a few expert repairs.

A spectacular early nineteenth-century coloured engraving illustrating the traditional costume of peoples of the world.

The sixty-six full-length portraits are arranged in a grid with eleven columns and six rows, the latter corresponding roughly to the inhabited continents. Each individual portrait is captioned (in German). The entire chart is set within a decorative border. Europe is represented by 11 types (including a Turk); Asia 22 (including Arabian; Persian; Chinese; Mongol; Japanese; Siamese; Javanese; Uzbek; Yakut); Africa 11 (including Berber; Moor; Egyptian; Fulani; Ethiopian; Hottentot; Madagascan); the Americas 11 (including Eskimo, Greenlander, Peruvian, Carib, Patagonian, Tierra del Fuegan); and Oceania 11 (including New Hollander; Maori; Tasmanian; New Hebridean; Hawaiian; Tongan; Tahitian; Marquesan; Easter Islander). The Polynesian and Australian subjects are after engravings of works by the artists of Baudin’s and Cook’s voyages.

Very rare. No other example traced.