This illustration of the Vespa genus (hornets)  by D. F. Sotzmann was made for Johan Herbst's Kurze Einleitung zur Kenntniss der Insekten für Ungeubte und Anfänger.
 
Born in Petershagen bei Minden, Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Herbst (1743-1807) was best known for joining Carl Gustav Jablonsky in the Sisyphean effort to produce a comprehensive survey of the Order Coleoptera (beetles), an enormous task that resulted in the massive, but still incomplete Naturgeschichte der in-und ausländischen Insekten, 10 vols. (1785-1806).
An energetic and prolific author of essential works in entomology, his smaller Kurze Einleitung (a mere three volumes) attempts to survey the major taxa of what is now considered the phyllum arthropoda, including insects, spiders, crabs, and scorpions.
 
All of our reproductions are done on hand-processed paper, illuminated with gold paint and finished with beeswax, giving them a real parchment-like look. Actual colors may vary a bit due to different monitors displaying colors differently.