Study of five fish from De Historia Piscium

Study of five fish. Inscribed: (1) ‘Adonis sive Exocaetus cristatus Bellony’; (2) ‘Clarias Bellony’ [Mustela niloctica Memphis]; (3) ‘Scorpaena Bellon’ [Father-Lasher Cornubiensibus]; (4) ‘Mustela Marina’; (5) ‘Mustelae fluviatilis’ [Burbot or Birdbolt]. Illustration from De historia piscium libri quatuor, by Francis Willughby and John Ray (Oxford, 1686).
Object history
The Historia Piscium, based on John Ray's editing of the posthumous work of naturalist Francis Willughby, was the first comprehensive book of ichthyology (the study of fishes). The Royal Society was responsible for the printing of the plates, many of which were sponsored by individual Fellows at a cost of one guinea each; the pages of text were printed separately in Oxford. The book did not sell well, and the resulting financial deficit made it impossible for the Society to pay for the publication of Isaac Newton’s Principia Mathematica.