Bertuch "Nais Serpentina" Late 18th C Hand-colored Copper Engraving make-do game with great hand-painted red brick

with great hand-painted red brick around the bottom and for the chimney

and the spring is springy

As I tried to do some research into the history of railroad signals in order to date--and to fully understand

and now one of my very favorite finds ever

those with mouth open were shot holding it aloft

Bertuch "Nais Serpentina" Late 18th C Hand-colored Copper Engraving make-do game with great hand-painted red brickThis c. 1798 engraving comes from a volume published by Friedrich Justin Bertuch, (1747 1822) famous German publisher, patron of the arts and all around super interesting character worth a quick (or long!) search. Between 1790 and 1830 Betruch printed the "Bilderbuch fr Kinder", appearing in 12 volumes, and including color engravings of all manner of living things, and some mythic ones, too! These I think are renderings of pre or just hatched snakes