Jacob Sturm was the most famous engraver of entomological

Entomology

Entomology is the scientific study of insects, a branch of arthropodology...

 and botanical

Botany

Botany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...

 scientific publications in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century. He lived in Nuremberg

Nuremberg

Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...

.

Sturm became a celebrated insect collector and founded the Nuremberg Society for Natural History. His entomological and botanical plates are very accurately drawn and show minute details and enjoyed a great popularity among naturalists. As most of his works were published in a small format, they could be purchased by a larger public and they were very popular.During this period, Nuremberg was the centre of natural history book production in Germany.

"The book Deutschlands Flora in Abbildungen nach der Natur mit Beschreibungen. Nürnberg, gedruckt auf Kosten der Verfassers,1798–1862. 163 parts (in 136 volumes) contains... neat and attractive little engravings, no more than 5 in. by 3½ inches in size... He thus deliberately chose this minute format in order to make a knowledge of the German flora available by pictures to as many as possible and as cheaply as possible. Despite their smallness, they carry a surprising amount of detail. Jacob Sturm learnt his art from his father, Johann Georg Sturm, who was also a Nuremberg engraver" (Blunt & Stearn pp. 258–260).

Some works illustrated by Jacob Sturm

• la Deutschlands Flora in Abbildungen nach der Natur mit Beschreibungen (de 1796 à 1862) avec 2 472 gravures illustrant des textes de Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber
  Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber
  Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber , often styled I.C.D. von Schreber, was a German naturalist.-Career:He was elected Professor of Materia medica at the University of Erlangen in 1769....
  
  , David Heinrich Hoppe
  David Heinrich Hoppe
  David Heinrich Hoppe was a German pharmacist, botanist and physician who was a native of Bruchhausen-Vilsen....
  
  , Heinrich Gottlieb Ludwig Reichenbach (1793–1879) et d’autres ;
• la traduction en allemand de l’Entomologie de Guillaume-Antoine Olivier
  Guillaume-Antoine Olivier
  Guillaume-Antoine Olivier was a French entomologist.He was the author of Entomologie, ou histoire naturelle des Insectes and Le Voyage dans l'Empire Othoman, l'Égypte et la Perse . He was a close friend of Johan Christian Fabricius and a patron of Pierre André Latreille.-References:...
  
   (1756–1814) par Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger
  Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger
  Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger was a German entomologist and zoologist.Illiger was the son of a merchant in Brunswick. He studied under the entomologist Johann Hellwig, and later worked on the zoological collections of Johann Centurius Hoffmannsegg...
  
   (1775–1813), Abbildungen zu Karl Illigers Uebersetzung von Oliviers Entomologie (1802–1803, Nuremberg) ;
• Beschreibung der Gräser nebst ihren Abbildungen nach der Natur de J.C.D. von Schreber (1766–1779, Leipzig) ;
• Deutschlands Insectenfaune et Kritische Revision der Insectenfaune Deutschlands... de Georg Wolfgang Franz Panzer
  Georg Wolfgang Franz Panzer
  Georg Wolfgang Franz Panzer was a German botanist and entomologist.He was born at Etzelwang in the Palatinate and died at Hersbruck, near Nuremberg.A physician, he practised at Hersbruck...
  
   (Nuremberg, 1805–1806) ;
• Catalecta Botanica quibus Plantae Novae et Minus Cognitae Describuntur atque Illustrantur d’Albrecht Wilhelm Roth
  Albrecht Wilhelm Roth
  Albrecht Wilhelm Roth was a physician and botanist who was a native of Dötlingen, Germany.He studied medicine at the Universities of Halle and Erlangen, where he received his doctorate in 1778....
  
   (1757–1834) (trois volumes, Leipzig, 1797–1806) ;
• Versuch einer geognostisch-botanischen Darstellung der Flora der Vorwelt (Leipzig, 1820–1838) et Revisio Saxifragarum Iconibus Illustrata (Regensberg, 1810–1822, Leipzig, 1831) du comte Kaspar Maria von Sternberg
  Kaspar Maria von Sternberg
  Kaspar Maria von Sternberg , 1761, Prague – 1838, Březina Castle, was a Bohemian theologian, mineralogist, geognost, entomologist and botanist. He is known as the Father of Paleobotany....
  
   ;
• System der Pilze und Schwämme (Wurbzerg, 1816) et Bryologia Germanica, oder Beschreibung der in Deutschland und in der Schweiz wachsenden Laubmoose (Nuremberg, 1823–1831) de Christian Gottfried Daniel Nees von Esenbeck
  Christian Gottfried Daniel Nees von Esenbeck
  Christian Gottfried Daniel Nees von Esenbeck was a prolific German botanist, physician, zoologist, and natural philosopher. He was a contemporary of Goethe and was born within the lifetime of Linnaeus. He described approximately 7,000 plant species...
  
  ;
• Caricologia Germanica, oder Beschreybungen und Abbildungen aller in Deutschland wildwachsenden Seggen (Nüremberg, 1835) de D.H. Hoppe.

External links

• Jacob Sturm Smithsonian Digital Library
• Sturm Orchid drawings
• Sturm insect drawings
• WUR Panzer and Sturm 'Faunae insectorum germanicae initiaslideshow with sound