Novus orbis pictus juventuti institutuendae et oblectandae, complectens Animalium, Plantarum, Florum, Fructuum, Fossilium (etc.)

Friedrich Bertuch (1747 – 1822) was one of the greatest publishers in the German-speaking world, publishing around 2,000 works in the course of his life. The most successful and probably greatest project was his Bilderbuch für Kinder (“Picture book for children”), the publication of which began in 1790. By 1830, 237 instalments with 1,185 coloured copper engravings had been published in an edition of 3,000 copies, plus a 24-volume accompanying work comprising more than 15,000 pages.
In Vienna, the work was published on a smaller scale in 10 volumes between 1805 and 1809 in the Anton Pichler publishing house – likewise in many separate instalments that allowed even less wealthy parents to purchase them on a regular basis. They were published in Latin, Hungarian, German and French, with the two-fold effect of giving the children and young readers a mosaic-like picture of the world and associating the visual pleasures with language teaching
The topic groups presented are: 1. Four-footed animals (mammals), 2. Birds, 3. Fishes, 4. Insects, 5. Plants, 6. People and costumes, 7. Worms, 8. Molluscs, 9. Corals, 10. Amphibians, 11. Minerals, 12. Architecture, 13. Antiquity and 14. Miscellaneous subjects.