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The first illustrations of geo-objects—different crystals of salt—from Poland were included by U. Aldrovandi in his Musaeum Metallicum (1648). The first publications containing paleontological sketches of fossil remains of animals and plants appeared in the early eighteenth century. G.A. Helwing, in his Lithographia Angerburgica (1717) and Lithographiae Angerburgicae Pars II (1720), included drawings of fossils of various ages from the Peri-Baltic area. G.A. Volkmann’s Silesia Subterranea (1720) was extensively illustrated by elaborate sketches of fossils including Carboniferous plants from the Lower Silesia region. In 1764, J.-É. Guettard published an important paper on the geology of Poland that contained detailed illustrations of fossils from various parts of the country. S. Staszic, in his two seminal books published in 1805 and 1815, provided detailed illustrations of animal remains, mainly bones of large, extinct mammals. This “pioneering era” of development of paleontological art came to an end with publications by two geologists that laid the foundations of modern paleontology in Poland: Polens Paläontologie by G.G. Pusch (1836) and Paleontologia Polska (1846) by L. Zejszner. In less than 150 years, paleontological art evolved from simple illustrations of “curious objects” from the subsurface to scientific drawings that marked the birth of modern paleontology.

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