Originally published in 1719, with a second edition in 1754, Poissons, Ecrevisses et Crabes can lay claim to being the earliest known publication in colour on fish - in this case, celebrating those hailing from the waters of the East Indies. This wonderful book is the creation of Louis Renard; a publisher, bookseller, and spy for the British Crown. All in all, across the two volumes, the book contains 100 plates bearing 460 hand-coloured engravings; a total of 415 fishes, 41 crustaceans, two stick insects, a dugong and, in a final foldout, a solitary mermaid. The engravings were supposedly based on drawings from life by the artist Samuel Fallours (active 1703 - 1720). Produced in two volumes, the images in the first part tend to be fairly realistic, but many in the second stray somewhat into the realms of fantasy, despite Renard's ardent claims of authenticity.