Johann Jacob Scheuchzer (1672–1733)

A remarkable set of engravings/illustrations, you can view photographs of this book (in its entirety? 737 pages worth at least) here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pluriverse/sets/72157603976011770/

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"The famous Swiss scientist Johannes Jacob Scheuchzer (1672-1733) is known as the the founder of paleobotany and European paleontology. He was professor of mathematics at the Carolinum, professor of physics at the Academy, and the director Zurich's Museum of Natural History.

Scheuchzer believed that the Old Testament was a factual account of the history, of t he world. As a scientist, he embarked on a major project to explain Biblical events in terms of physics, medicine, and natural history. His aim was to prove the existence of God through science, but the Swiss authorities initially refused to grant him a permit to publish it. Eventually a lushly illustrated edition of this extraordinary work as printed between 1731 and 1735 in the great German publishing center Augsburg.

Entitled, Jobi physica sacra, oder Hiobs Natur-Wissenschaft verglichen mit der heutigen, the work became known as the Physica Sacra or the Kupfer-Bibel. It became famous for its elaborate illustrations, in which each biblical story was framed with an architectural border containing details relevant to the chapter depicted."

"'In Scheuchzer's gigantic work, Physica Sacra, the Baroque attains, philosophically as well as artistically, its high point and its conclusion' (Faber du Faur, German Baroque Literature, p. 472). Scheuchzer, a doctor and natural scientist from Zurich, planned the Physica sacra as an explanation of and a commentary on the Bible on natural-scientific grounds. He himself oversaw the illustrations which were largely based on his own natural history cabinet or on other famous European cabinets of rare specimens. He entrusted the central designs to Johann Melchior Füssli and the elaborate borders to Johann Daniel Preissler, and they were engraved by highly skilled engravers including Georg Daniel Heumann and Johann August Corvinus."… (mehr)