Georg Gottlieb Plato (1710–77) was the son of Johann Christoph Wild from Regensburg, Germany. He gave up the Wild family name and adopted the name of Plato, after his patron, Johann Heinrich Plato, an official of the rank of counselor in Regensburg. Johann Heinrich furthered the education of the younger man, who studied pharmacy and medicine before embarking on a career as a lawyer in Regensburg and later becoming a member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences. Georg Gottlieb Plato’s two-volume illustrated record of his collection of mollusk shells testifies to his interest in natural history, which he pursued in addition to his private studies in history and numismatics. The first volume of the work includes elegant and fine drawings of the conchological collection, crafted on blue paper with great concern for exact representation. The second volume contains a register and a description of the displayed objects in Latin and partly in French and Dutch. The manuscripts were preserved in the city library of Ratisbon before it was permanently closed in 1812. They then were transferred to the Bavarian State Library in Munich.
<br>Shells
Plato, Georg Gottlieb, 1710-1777
<p><a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://dl.wdl.org/8925/service/8925.pdf">http://dl.wdl.org/8925/service/8925.pdf</a>
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<ul><li>Gallery: <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://www.wdl.org/en/item/8925/">http://www.wdl.org/en/item/8925/</a></li></ul>