Plate 1-Anguilla Chrysypa Rafinesque. Common Eel; Anguilla. About One-Third Natural Size, 1900

This collection contains 48 illustrated book plates, with Albertus H. Baldwin creating 32 plates and Charles B. Hudson creating 16 plates. Plates by Baldwin were painted while he was aboard the Fish Hawk. Descriptions on the plates contain both Latin and English designations, and every fish is illustrated from a side profile view. Each fish ranges in size, and the text denotes the "natural size" (life-size scale) and some not to scale.

The plates accompanied the The Fishes of Porto Rico, written by Barton W. Evermann and Millard C. Marsh, through the Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission. Lithographer Julius Bien & Co. first published the report and prints in 1900. Within the book’s opening statement, the authors explain the artists’ process for creating the plates which described fishermen transferring the fish from their boats’ live-wells to a large aquarium on a pier, where they were kept alive while being painted. During the winter of 1897-1898, 16 plates were created.