On the conchological work of F.M. Regenfuss

Franz Michael Regenfuss was born in Nuremberg, Germany, and baptized 28th February 1713. His father, Erhard Regenfuss, was a wig-maker. The son married Margaretha Helena Ludwig (born circa 1707) in Feucht on 3rd March 1755. Franz Michael did not succeed to his father's business, but became a painter and engraver. From his youth he was fascinated by the manyfold natural history objects, especially of foreign countries, and already by 1745 he was thinking of publishing a book with numerous illustrations in lineengraving and a scientific text on shells and crustaceans. For the text he had the collaboration of F. C. Lesser (1692-1754), at that time a clergyman in Nordhausen and a well known authority on conchology. In order to collect names and addresses of potential subscribers to his book Regenfuss, in the beginning of 1748, published a small circular in which he invited shell collectors and shell dealers to support his idea, fixing the price for a coloured plate at 2 fl., for a uncoloured one at 1 fl. 1) Towards the end of that year he produced a large-sized "Avertissement" (dated 30 October 1748) to the "Lectori Benevolo Naturae Speculatori atque Ingenuarum Artium Studioso" 1). This item opens with an engraving representing an allegory of the sea and its organisms, to which is attached a net full of shells. It is followed by a text in Latin and German in parallel columns. Herein the study of conchology is greatly recommended, and again subscriptions are invited for the forthcoming book. In addition it gave an exposé of how Regenfuss and Lesser were going to effectuate their scheme. Here the above mentioned prices for the original subscribers are mentioned again, the later applicants having to pay 2 fl. 30 kr. for a coloured and 1 fl. 30 kr. for a black-and-white