Hartlaub was born in Bremen, and studied at Bonn and Berlin before graduating in medicine at Göttingen.

In 1840, he began to study and collect exotic birds, which he donated to the Bremen Natural History Museum.

He wrote with Otto Finsch, Beitrag zur Fauna Centralpolynesiens: Ornithologie der Viti-, Samoa und Tonga- Inseln.

This 1867 work which has handcoloured lithographs was based on bird specimens collected by Eduard Heinrich Graeffe for Museum Godeffroy.

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