Original 19th century steel engraved print of a Gorilla.
Contemporary hand colouring.
From "Das Buch der Welt" by John Weik, Stuttgart.
This is possibly the first printed image of a Gorilla ever printed.
The lowland Gorilla was first 'discovered' and described by the missionary, Dr Savage, in 1847 from accurate descriptions taken from tribes near the Gaboon river.
This image shows a peaceful family group, male, female and young.
They were drawn from specimens in the Paris natural History Museum, captured in the Gabon and brought back to France in 1852.The artist is unknown..
Later drawings of Gorillas show them in much more aggressive poses, which gave rise to the reputation of the Gorilla being a violent animal.
John Weik, was born in 1827 in Württemberg, Germany. Weik immigrated to Philadelphia in 1850 and soon after started the naturalization process and entered the city's publishing industry, including lithographs. In 1851, he operated a book and stationery store at 155 North Third Street. From 1857 to ca. 1860, he partnered with Hugo Liebing to form the book publishing and importing business John Weik & Co. at 533 Chestnut Street. During the 1850s and 1860s, Weik traveled between Germany and Philadelphia several times, presumably to enhance his shop's collection of German works. Weik also published lithographs, many of them bird's eye views, including Bachmann's "Bird's Eye View of Philadelphia" printed by P.S. Duval & Son (1857), Herline's "Microscopic View of New York" (1870), and a map of Boston, Massachusetts (1870) designed by F. Fuchs.
