SCHELLENBERG, J.R.
Zürich, Orell, Fuesli und Compagnie, 1803. Royal-8vo (225 x 135mm) . pp. 95, (1), with 42 handcoloured engraved plates. Contemporary half calf, spine with red gilt lettered label (label worn). First and only edition. Schellenberg illustrated a number of beautiful botanical and entomological monographs and was considered to be one of the best natural history artists of his time. He was rightly famous for his minute details and precision. Roemer writes about him as follows: "Eben dieser Schellenberg hat . eine erstaunliche Menge von Insecten nach der Natur gezeichnet und gemahlt . Richtigkeit in der Zeichnung, Leben und das herrlichste Colorit scheinen da mit einander um die Palme streiten zu wollen" (Thanner, Schmutz & Geus. J.R. Schellenberg, p. 144). "The title and introduction state clearly that 2 amateurs provided the names and the text of the new taxa proposed in this work; Schellenberg was only responsible for the plates. As the two amateurs are unnamed in the work, common practice is to attribute the names to Schellenberg"(Evenhuis p. 693). Text in German and French.Provenance: armorial bookplate of Dr. A.v. Schulthess and old label of W. Junk, Berlin.Nissen ZBI, 3650.
LE VERRIER DE LA CONTERIE, (J.B.).
Münster, P.H. Perrenon, 1780. 8vo (198 x 115mm). pp. (18), 469, with 27 (22 folded) engraved plates. 19th century green boards, spine with gilt lettering. Rare first and only German edition. The first French edition was published in Rouen 1763. The German edition is a translation of the second French edition of 1778. "This instructive book ranks with the classics on hunting" (Schwerdt I, 313 for the French edition). Pages 442-462 'Unterricht und vorläufige Anmerckungen über die Jagdmusik" concerns hunting music with numerous music notes in the text. Deals with coursing hare, deer, stags, wild boar, foxes, badgers and otters, with illustrations of animals and their tracks, antler etc.Provenance: Bibliotheca Tiliana bookplate on inside frontcover, with another armorial bookplate.Lindner 1309.01; Schwerdt I, 314.
LACORDAIRE, J.T. & CHAPIUS, F.
Paris, Roret, 1854-1876. 8vo (203 x 130mm). 14 volumes (12 text volumes bound in 13 plus atlas). pp. xx, 486; 548; 594; 579; 750; 637; 620; 552; 1-409; 410-930; iv, 455; 420; 424; 47, (3), with 134 hand-coloured engraved plates. Contemporary half calf, gilt ornamented spines with gilt lettering (vol. 9, second part in contemporary wrappers, atlas volume in later half calf). The rare issue with hand-coloured plates. The present work is Jean Théodore Lacordaire's (1801-1870) major work. 'De ses voyages, Lacordaire rapporte en France, des milliers d'insectes qu'il étudie lui-même' (Lhoste p. 60). Lacordaire travelled in South American from 1825-1832 using every opportunity to collect insects.In 1835 he became professor of zoology at the University of Liège. The last 3 volumes of the present work were posthumously published by F. Chapuis. The fine plates engraved by Corbié are after drawings by Migneaux, Nicolet, and Hüet. All plates are meticulously hand-coloured."Besides his great work, the 'Genera des Coléoptères,' which occupied the last twenty-two years of his life, and with which his name will be associated as long as Entomology is studied, he published a Monograph of the Erotylidæ. The unanimous verdict of entomologists has already stamped the 'Genera des Coléoptères' as a work of transcendent merit and usefulness; and when we consider that almost every line of its nine closely-printed volumes embodies the result of numerous observations, careful comparisons. I have thought it well to obtain some estimate of these from my friend and predecessor Mr. Bates, who has, I know, had occasion to examine critically a large portion of Lacordaire's work. He informs me that the distinguishing merits of the 'Genera' are, its completeness (scarcely a single described genus having been overlooked); the justness and accuracy of the characters given, and the clearness of its style and arrangement. In the aptitude and neatness with which the synoptical tables of tribes and genera are constructed, Mr. Bates thinks he has excelled all other entomological writers." (A.R. Wallace. The president's Address 1871 to the Entomological Society of London).Horn-Schenkling 12618 & Index Litt. Ent. II, 565.
DIETRICH, A.
Berlin, L. Oehmigke, 1833-1844. 12 volumes. Royal-8vo (255 x 165mm). With 864 fine handcoloured lithographed plates and descriptive text. Contemporary maroon half morocco, richly gilt decorated spines with gilt lettering. A beautiful uniformly bound copy of the only major Prussian flora. Albert Gottfried Diertrich (1795-1856) was teacher at the Gärtner-Lehranstalt in Schöneberg near Berlin and worked as curator at the Königlicher Botanischer Garten since 1835. The plates were drawn by the author. The text is in German. "For this work, which is mostly founded on his own collecting activity, he aimed at an inventory as comprehensive as possible of the most frequent native plants growing in the Prussian territories" (Staatsbibliothek Preussischer Kulturbesitz, 100 Botanical Jewels, No. 89). The fine bindings were uniformly bound in the Jewel Romantique style by C.W. Vogt, binder to the court of Prussia.Provenance: Armorial bookplate with monogram R.D.Great Flower Books p. 55; Nissen BBI, 481. Stafleu & Cowan 1457.
CULOT, J.
Genève, Villa-Les-Iris, 1909-1920. 4 volumes. Royal-8vo (245 x 165mm). pp. (2), 220; (2), 243, (1); (2), 269, (3); (6), 167, (3), with 152 (151 hand coloured) lithographed plates. Contemporary half calf, gilt lettered spines, first and last volume rubbed. Although published at the beginning of last century, this nicely illustrated iconography is very scarce, as it was issued in a very small edition only. "The very detailed and excellently executed plates were drawn and handcoloured by the author himself" (from the introduction by C. Oberthür). 'C'est d'ailleurs en grande partie d'après les sujets de sa collection que Culot publia son Iconographie des Noctuelles et Géomètres d'Europe plus de 150 de ses planches, gravées sur la pierre lithographique et colorisées à la main. Cet ouvrage, qui fut couronné d'un prix de la Société entomologique de France, constitue un auxiliaire précieux pour tous ceux qui collectionnent et étudient les papillons' (Mitteilungen der Schweiz. Entom. Gesellschaft, Vol. XVI, 3 1934).A handwritten letter of Jules Culot is bound in.Provenance: Bookplate of Claude Herbulot.
ALDROVANDI, U.
Bononiae, apud C. Ferronium, 1638. Folio (355 x 235mm). pp. (8), 767, (1), (44), with engraved title and about 700 woodcuts. Contemporary calf, richly gilt decorated spine in 7 compartments (old repair to hinges). "The first work of literature in the world dealing with insects, thus finally establishing entomology, and especially systematic entomology as a science. Objects from this collection were taken as illustrations; these recognizable, well-cut wood engravings, though rather primitive, were numerous. They contained the first known dichotomic key for determination of the higher groups, which are all morphologically defined. A special chapter was devoted to the morphology of the insect body. Metamorphosis and reproduction has been described excellently and supplemented with notes. The abundance of species of this book, mainly relating to the fauna of northern Italy, is astonishingly high; for instance 81 different species of Lepidoptera are delineated. In this volume the total literature up to his day was used by Aldrovandi almost to exhaustion" (Smith, R.F. History of entomology pp. 85-86). Aldrovandi's complete natural history works consist of 11 works, he spent 45 years amassing the material. The volumes on birds and the present volume on insects were completed by himself, the others by his pupils. The woodcuts of the insects are of great beauty and accuracy. "Although Aldrovandi is not identified with any revolutionary discoveries, his work as a teacher and as the author of volumes that constitute an irreplaceable cultural patrimony earns him a place among the fathers of modern science" (D.S.B. I, p. 110). The first edition was published in 1602 in Bologna, the present copy is the second edition. A fine copy.Nissen ZBI, 67.
DRURY, D.
A new edition . by J.O. Westwood. London, H.G. Bohn, 1837. 3 volumes. 4to (265 x 205 mm). With 150 handcoloured engraved plates and 1 plain engraved frontispiece. Contemporary half calf, spines in 6 compartments with gilt lettering. A fine copy of the second and last edition of one of the most attractive English entomological works on exotic insects, with superb hand-colouring of the plates. The first edition appeared from 1770-1782. Dru Drury (1725-1803) was the son of a silversmith. "By virtue of his marriage and inheritance of the family business he was a reasonably wealthy man who could afford to support his most serious hobby entomology. Drury's collection had great fame during his life time. He spent much time and money persuading others to collect specimens for him from foreign countries. He had a wide correspondence with entomologists around the world. Linnaeus (1707-1778) and Willliam Kirby (1759-1850) both named species after him" (Harvey, Gilbert & Martin, A catalogue of manuscripts in the Entomological library. 119). The majority of the fine plates were drawn and engraved by Moses Harris. "Although originally conceived as a publication to illustrate all the specimens that came in, Drury soon changed his mind and eventually decided to illustrate only those specimens which had not previously been drawn. Years later, the eminent British entomologist W.F. Kirby described the work as an 'Opus entomologicus splendissimus'!" (Gilbert, Butterfly Collectors and Painters, p.140)Nissen ZBI, 1160; Horn & Schenkling 23891.
MALHERBE, A.
Metz, Jules Verronnais, 1861-62. 4 volumes (including 2 plate volumes). Folio (355 x 535mm). pp. (2), lxx, 214; (2), 325; (12), 8, (2), 6, with 123 beautifully handcoloured lithographed plates drawn and lithographed by Mesnel, Delahaye, and P. Oudart. Contemporary red half morocco, richly gilt decorated spines in 7 compartments, gilt edges. A beautifully bound copy in pristine condition. "This, probably the best monograph on the woodpeckers of the world, is finely illustrated by well-drawn, handcoloured plates. The treatise was limited to 100 copies and was issued in 24 livraisons" (Wood p. 49). "There are works of a wonderful minor intricacy such as Malherbe's 'Les Picidées' a work of which only 100 copies were privately printed at Metz in 1861-62, with hand-coloured plates by M. Delahaye. Many of the woodpeckers are conspicuous for the mock-tortoiseshell markings of their back and wings; others have spotted or tabbied breasts like thrushes. There are sapsuckers with long thin bills like humming-birds; and Malherbe illustrates a beautiful cactus pecker that has its home in Guatemala. This work on woodpeckers, in its involved complexity, is more satisfying " (Fine Bird Books p. 45). With this magnificently produced work, the only major work on the woodpeckers, ends an era of splendid French ornithological publications, just to mention those of Audebert, Levaillant, Vieillot a.o. The plates, (all directed by Malherbe 'A. Malherbe dirext') are superbly coloured by hand, using vivid and bold colours and are 'gommées à la main', showing the birds in their natural habitat. According to O. Lorenz only 80 copies have been published.Nissen IVB 587; Fine Bird Books p. 92.
HORSFIELD, T. & J.J. BENNETTT & R. BROWN.
London, W.H. Allen, 1838-1852. Folio (365 x 265mm). pp. (2), viii, xvi, (2), 258, (2), with an engraved folded map and 50 (some double-page) engraved plates of which 47 finely handcoloured. Contemporary green half morocco, top edges gilt. First and only edition. A beautifully bound copy of this rare work on the flora of Java. Horsfield was an American naturalist and student of B.S. Barton. He visited Java in 1800 as a ship's doctor and decided to return there. He lived in Java for 16 years, where he assembled a herbarium amounting to some 2,100 species. He was employed by the Dutch East India Company but joined the English service when the Dutch Malaysian colonies were temporarily taken over by the British in 1811. Upon his return to England he entrusted the cataloguing and identification of the specimens to Robert Brown, who also arranged publication. The determinations and descriptions were mostly the work of Bennett. The fine plates are from drawings by John Curtis, who also engraved a number of them. Several plants of the Malay Archipelago were namend in Horsfield's honour. The text is both in Latin and English.Nissen 934; Our copy agrees with Stafleu & Cowan 418 indicating that plates 4, 5 and 17 are plain.
EDWARDS, J.
London, S. Hooper, 1775. Folio (420 x 265mm). pp. (2), 50, (2, index) with 100 handcoloured engraved plates. Contemporary calf, gilt ornamented spine with red gilt lettered label in 7 compartments (spine with old skilful repair). First edition, second issue (first 1770). One of the most attractive English flower books. John Edwards became one of the most notable botanical English artists of the 18th century was born in 1742. "A fine work with many beautiful plates" (Dunthorne 104)."John Edwards was an engraver and printer and . famous English artists to specialize in the genre of flower painting. From the very beginning of his career he devoted himself to floral and ornamental subjects. Thus John Edwards depicted the natural world from the perspective of the artist, revelling in its infinite variety of forms and colours, in a vision of Neoclassical elegance with a lingering trace of the Rococo" (Tomasi. An Oak Spring Flora p. 246). Edwards not only made the drawings for this work, but also etched and engraved the majority of the plates.Great Flower Books p. 56; Hunt 645; Nissen BBI 578.
DU PETIT-THOUARS, A.A.
Paris, A. Bertrand/ Treuttel & Wurtz, 1822. Royal-8vo (265 x 175mm). pp. viii, 1-32, with 2 folded tables and 110 engraved plates. Later dark green morocco, covers with gilt border, spine in 6 compartments with gilt lettering, top edges gilt, inside dentelles. First illustrated monograph on orchids, likewise the first work on African orchids. It took almost 8o years before the next major work on African orchids, by Harry Bolus, appeared. Aubert Du Petit-Thouars (1758-1831) was a well-known French botanist and traveller. 'Nos connaissance sur la flore de Madagascar et des Mascareignes devaient se développer grâce à l'oeuvre de L. Aubert Du Petit-Thouars, qui séjournera longuement dans ces îles' (Davy de Virville p. 363).The text ends with page 32 and no more was published. Both Nissen and Pritzel only call for 108 plates. The fine plates are drawn and engraved by the author. "The tableaux and the plates contain the new alternative names given by Thouars to the orchids treated by him. His alternative specific epithets are used in binominals and are hence admissible" (Stafleu & Cowan). A fine copy of one of the rarest works on orchids.Nissen BBI, 564; Pritzel 2535; Stafleu & Cowan 1586.
ROESEL VAN ROSENHOF, A.J.
Volgens eigen ondervinding beschreeven, . Met zeer nutte en fraaie Aanmerkingen verrykt, door C.F. Kleemann. Uit den echten Hoogduitschen Druk . vertaald. Haarlem en Amsterdam, C.H. Bohn en H. de Wit, (1764-1768). 4 volumes. Large-4to (265 x 210mm). With 3 hand-coloured engraved frontispieces, 1 engraved portrait of Rösel and 359 (3 folded) hand-coloured engraved plates (printed on 288 leaves). Contemporary red morocco, richly gilt decorated spines with green gilt lettered labels, sides with gilt borders, gilt edges. A splendid uniformly bound copy in red morocco of one of the most beautiful entomological publications. This Dutch edition is more attractive than the original German edition, which was published in Nuremberg from 1746-1792. The Dutch edition is printed on almost twice as large, much thicker, paper, and has far better colouring. The translation was made by C. Kleemann, the son-in-law of the author. He added new material and the excellent colouring of the plates is by him and his wife Katharina Barbara Roesel von Rosenhof. Kleemann also published a "Vervolg" with 26 plates, which was never finished and which is not present as almost always."Roesel, who studied at first with his father and then with his uncle Wilhelm, an animal painter in Merseburg, later became a pupil of the famous Preisler in Nuremberg. After living in Copenhagen from 1726 to 1728 he returned to Nuremberg for good, and there, besides painting portraits and drawings, he applied himself in particular to the study of nature. He collected insects, their eggs and larvae, studied the process of hatching, pupation, and emergence, and painted all this in a most meticulous way, as Kleeman tells us. His manuscripts, with 406 illustrations, are now in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in Munich. Roesel also made the engravings of his drawings ." (Nissen, Bestiaries). The colouring of the present sumptuously bound copy is the best we have ever seen of this book.Provenance: Bookplate of Graf Krockow-Rumbske and armorial bookplate of Henry Rogers Broughton.Nissen ZBI, 3467; Landwehr 161.
KARSTEN, H.
Berolini, apud Ferdinandi Duemmleri successores, 1858-1869. 2 volumes. Folio (500 x 350 mm.). pp. (6), 200, (2, index); pp. (2), 188, (2, index) with 200 handcoloured lithographed plates. Contemporary green half morocco, richly gilt decorated spines with gilt lettering, topedges gilt. One of the rarest and most splendid publications on South American botany. Following the example of Alexander von Humboldt, Hermann Karsten conducted a 12 year exploration (1844-1856) in the territories of Ecuador, Columbia and Venezuela of which the present publication is the result. Karsten was a German botanist and from 1856-1868 professor of botany in Berlin; 1868-1872 in Vienna; from 1872 onward in Berlin. Wilhelm Junk in his catalogue 'Bibliographia Botanica' of 1909 states that coloured copies have become very rare and prices the copy Mark 600, one of the most expensive items in this catalogue with almost 7000 items. Some occasional spotting and paper toning. The Rare Book Hub records only 3 copies since 1958.Great Flower Books p. 62; Nissen BBI, 1028; Sabin 37104; Stafleu & Cowan 3523.
GUILLEMIN, J.A., PERROTTET, G.S. & RICHARD, A.
Paris, Treuttel and Wurz, 1830-1832. Folio (370 x 285mm). pp. xi, 316, (6), with 72 handcoloured lithographed plates. Contemporary half calf, spine with gilt lines, ornaments and lettering, marbled sides. The very rare Large Paper issue with coloured plates of this early work on the flora of Senegal and Gambia. The regular issue was published in small 4to with plain plates. The fine plates are by J. Decaisne. It was G.S. Perrottet who collected the plants. In 1824 he was appointed to direct a government outpost and trading company in Senegambia. After publishing the present work together with Guillemin and Richard he was assigned by the Parisian Museum of Natural History to the botanic garden in Pondicherry, India as an agricultural botanist. The earliest botanical collections reported in the area of the Senegambia under French influence were carried out in the mid-18th century by Michel Adanson (17271806), who would become a distinguished French naturalist.The fine plates are by Joseph Decaisne (1807-1882) a distinguished botanist, who rose from the position of a simple gardener to be leading botanist in France.The colouring of the plates is refined and beautiful. The printed wrappers to the 8 parts are bound in.Provenance: Bibliotheque de V. Perdonnet on backcover, label of G. Perdonnet and armorial coat of arms of Henry Rogers Broughton on inside frontcover.Stafleu & Cowan 2211; Nissen BBI, 766.
FRISCH, J.L.
Berlin, Friedrich Wilhelm Birnstiel, [1733-] 1763. 2 volumes. Folio (375 x 240 mm). ff. 103, including 25 divisional titles, with engraved portrait-frontispiece and 255 hand-coloured engraved plates. Contemporary calf, richly decorated spines with red gilt lettered labels, sides with gilt borders, gilt edges. First edition, an exceptionally clean and fine copy, complete with the Supplement, of the first great German colour-plate bird book. "One of the most enjoyable of all bird books but rare" (Fine Bird Books p. 76). The plates feature European and exotic birds, including a number of parrots, drawn from the family collection of preserved specimens. The plates were drawn and engraved by the author's sons Ferdinand Helfreich and Philipp Jakob; Johann Christoph, the author's grandson, executed the final 30 plates, and also engraved the portrait-frontispiece after a design by B. Rode. The original drawings are preserved in the Jacob Moyat collection in the Stadtbibliothek in Mainz. "The birds are divided into 12 classes and the plates, which contain altogether 307 figures, are accompanied by a brief text divided according to the classes into sections, the subtitles of which open with the words 'Kurtze Nachricht' or 'Fortsetzung einer kurtzen [kurzen] Nachricht'. After the death of J.L. Frisch the publication was continued by his sons, of whom Just Leopold Frisch prepared the text, assisted, chiefly at the end, by Baron Friedrich August von Zorn, who also compiled the comprehensive index." (Anker).Johann Leonhard Frisch (1666-1743) was a theologian, naturalist, and philologist specialising in Slavic languages; he taught Leibnitz Russian, and the latter had him elected to the Berlin Academy of Sciences. He is credited with the discovery of Prussian blue, and also with introducing sericulture to Germany; he planted mulberry trees around the walls of Berlin from which were produced a hundred pounds of silk. Published over a period of 30 years complete copies are very rare.Provenance: Last free endpaper with small stamp at foot 'Aus der National-Biliothek in Wien als Doublette ausgeschieden am 11.1.49'.Anker 155; Fine Bird Books 76 (with 3 stars); Nissen IVB, 339; Ripley 102; Wood p. 349.
DUHAMEL DU MONCEAU, H.L.
Paris, Librairie encyclopédique Roret, (1852?). 7 volumes. Folio (503 x 325mm). With 1 engraved title-vignette and 498 engraved plates, of which 496 printed in colour and finished by hand, mostly after Redouté. Later green half morocco, gilt lettered spines in 6 compartments. Large Paper copy of the most beautiful dendrological work published. The first edition of this work appeared in Paris in 2 volumes in 1755 with woodcuts from the blocks by Mattioli, which Duhamel du Monceau had acquired. The above, virtually independent work - commonly known as the "Nouveau Duhamel" - was issued in 83 parts (1800-1825). The present copy is an identical reissue. Stafleu & Cowan no.1547 give 1852 with a question mark as date of publication, the titlepage bears no date. Its text really owes rather little to Duhamel, but was so named more as an act of piety. In fact the principal contributors were J.L.A. Loiseleur-Deslongchamps, C.F. Mirbel, J.H. Jaume St. Hilaire, E. Michel, and L.J.M. Poiret. About 30 different engravers were involved for the printing of the beautiful plates, of which 463 are after drawings by P.J. Redouté, and 33 after P. Bessa. An imposing work, which remained for decades one of the basic works for Western European dendrological botany.Dunthorne 243; Great Flower Books 55; Nissen BBI, 549; Catalogue of Redoutéana, 14; Stafleu & Cowan 1547.
SAVI, G.
Pisa, Niccolo Capurro, 1818-1824. 3 volumes, bound in one. Folio (440 x 310 mm). pp (8), iv, 114, (2, index); (2), 90, (2, index); (2), 86, (2, index), with 120 stipple-engraved plates, printed in colours and finished by hand. Contemporary half calf, gilt decorated spines with gilt lettering, marbled sides. A fine copy of the first and only edition of this rare flora and florilegium, depicting the most beautiful native and exotic plants cultivated in Italy. The excellent plates, drawn and engraved by Antonio Serantoni, were meant to rival the stipple-engraved works of Redouté. The images are quite striking and bold, and the colouring excellent, even though the engraving is a bit coarse. Savi (1769-1844) was curator (later director) of the Pisa botanical garden and museum and professor of botany there. Gaetano Savi wrote several works on the botany of Italy such as 'Flora Pisana', 'Botanicon Etruscum', 'Trattato degli alberi della Toscana'.Dunthorne 271; Great flower books p. 75; Nissen BBI 1732; Stafleu and Cowan 10391.
SIEBOLD, P.F. VON.
Leiden, Siebold, 1832-1852. 7 parts bound in 6 volumes. Folio (390 x 293mm). Circa 1350 text pages with 365 fine lithographed plates, including numerous maps, views (many folding or double-page, 1 botanical plate hand-coloured). Contemporary half red morocco, spines in 6 compartments gilt, marbled sides, upper edges gilt. A very fine copy of the first and only edition of this magnificent publication depicting for the first time on a large scale the ethnography and geography of Japan. The work is of the greatest rarity as probably no more than 100 copies were published. The present copy is the only complete copy to come on the market since decades. The work was privately published by von Siebold and due to financial problems the work was sold to Quaritch, who added title pages and a 3 page collation of the work. Our copy, includes these pages printed by Quaritch and has all the pages and plates called for in the collation. A few copies were issued on large paper, our copy is the normal issue.Not included in the total count of 365 plates, but all present, are 19 appendix plates of Japanese text (1 plate in Abtheilung 5 and 18 numbered plates in Abtheilung 7), 25 numbered plates of Japanese text Wa Nen Kei "Annales Japonici" as well as 2 unnumbered plates belonging to this section and the lithographed title (Abtheilung 3). All these plates are listed in the Quaritch collation in the section plates 'Stein-tafeln' and for this reason there seems to be some confusion about the total number of plates.The work remained unfinished and 7 parts were published dealing with the following subjects: Mathematical and physical geography of Japan, hydrographical and geological maps, views and tables; People and state, a description of the inhabitants of Japan, their manners and customs, government and administration, with illustrations; Contributions to the history of Japan: mythology, history, archaeology, numismatics, with chronological maps, illustrations and tables; Arts and sciences, in particular the Japanese language and literature, with excerpts from original texts and illustrations; Religion: description of the deities, deified rulers, temples and monasteries, priests, monks and nuns, religious monuments, utensils and dress in Shintoism and Buddhism; Agriculture, industry and commerce with descriptions of related natural products and illustrations of commercial crops, animals, machines and implements; Neighbouring countries of Japan: Ezo with the Southern Kurile Islands, Korea and the Ryukyu Islands.Von Siebold was the most important European scientist who almost single handedly put Japanese studies on the European academic map. In 1823 he was posted to Japan as a surgeon to the Dutch factory on Deshima. He played a significant role in introducing Japan to the West and in his introduction of Western science to Japan. For the illustrations of the present work use was made of Siebold's large ethnographical collection, some 4700 items, which was opened to the public in 1831 and bought by the Dutch government in 1837.The Dutch were the only western nation to trade with Japan from 1639 until the opening of Japan by Perry. Von Siebold (1796-1866) was a German surgeon in service of the Dutch East India Company. 'Despite the restrictions imposed on the freedom of movement of the inhabitants, Siebold found life on the settlement quite comfortable. Since the late eighteenth century, when it had become easier to import and read books in Dutch, groups of scholars had started to engage themselves in the study of Western medicine. Dutch became the medium for these 'Dutch Studies', Rangaku. The main activities of these scholars, 'Rangakusha', were centered around the capital Edo, but all over the country was a growing interest in Western sciences during Siebold's time on Deshima. Soon, Siebold started teaching on a regular basis, mainly on the subjects of the natural sciences and medicine. In return, his students taught him Japanese and a little written Chinese. In addition, his students helped him with his botanical research. Siebold had secured the help of the Japanese painter Kawahara Keiga (1786-1865?) to make visual records of landscapes, buildings and other things which were physically impossible to collect" (K. Vos, 'Assignment Japan, Von Siebold pioneer and collector', pp. 10-13). During Siebold's stay in Edo he met the court astronomer Takahashi Sakuzaemon, the famous geographer Mogami Tokunai and Mamiya Rinzo, who provided Siebold with important information, maps etc. Siebold was expelled from Japan in the autumn of 1829 because maps were considered by the authorities as secret. Siebold had managed already to ship his collection to Batavia. However some of his Japanese friends were imprisoned.Cordier 477-48; Assignment Japan, Von Siebold pioneer and collector pp. 22-25; Nipponalia 1135; Alt-Japan Katalog 1396.
SCHMIDEL, C.C.
Erlangen, J.J. Palm, 1793. 2 parts in 1 volume. 4to (257 x 208mm). pp. (2), 25, (1), (2), 45, (1), with 24 (2 hand-coloured) engraved plates. Later half cloth, gilt lettered spine, marbled sides. Second edition. The first edition was published in Nürnberg from 1780-82. Schmidel was a famous mineralogist-botanist editing Gesner's posthumous botanical publications. He was professor of pharmacology at Erlangen and served as physician to Margrave Carl Alexander. A very fine work on fossils and petrifaction. Schmidel's interests as a naturalist focused on mineralogy, ore mineralogy in particular. Owners name on title and underlining of 2 words. Two issues appeared one with the plates coloured and one with plain plates. The present copy is the issue with the plain plates.Ward & Carozzi 1982.
SEPP, J.C.
Of Nederlandsche Insecten, naar hunne aanmerkelijke huishouding, verwonderlijke gedaantewisseling en andere wetenswaardige bijzonderheden . Amsterdam, J.C. Sepp, 1762-1860. 8 volumes. 4to (245 x 190mm). With 8 handcoloured engraved or lithographed frontispieces and 400 handcoloured engraved or lithographed plates. Contemporary half calf, spines with red and green gilt lettered labels. (and continuation: Second Series): SNELLEN VAN VOLLENHOVEN, S.C. Beschrijvingen en afbeeldingen van Nederlandsche vlinders. Amsterdam, J.C. Sepp/ 's-Gravenhage, M. Nijhoff, 1860-1900. 4 volumes. 4to (240 x 200mm). With 200 lithographed handcoloured plates. Contemporary half calf, spines with red and green gilt lettered labels. (and continuation: Third Series): BRANTS, A. Nederlandsche vlinders beschreven en afgebeeld. Aflevering I-X (all published), bound in 5 parts. s'Gravenhage, Martinus Nijhoff, 1905-1928. Large-4to (270 x 205mm). With 10 handcoloured lithographed plates. Contemporary cloth. One of the finest works on butterflies ever published. Cobres I, 381: "Ein Werk ohne seines gleiches, in der ungemein sauberen Ausführung, daher höchst schätzbar'.; " . eines der prächtigsten Abbildungswerke der Lepidopterologie ." (W. Junk). Its really marvellously executed plates are the culminating point of entomological illustration. Complete copies as the one offered are of great rarity. The publication of this work which according to Nissen probably started as early as 1728, stopped two hundred years later, when in 1928 the author of the third series, A. Brants, deceased after having completed only the first ten parts of the first volume. The famous publishing house Sepp & Zoon, was a firm which excercised the utmost care in producing colour-plate books of outstanding quality. In the present case Sepp was the author as well as the publisher. "First series started by Christiaan Andreas Sepp together with his son Jan Christiaan (1739-1811) published in issues and in the format after the model chosen by Roesel von Rosenhof; Sepp followed his own path for the descriptions of butterflies and their illustrations. It has become the most important work on Dutch lepidoptera" (Landwehr 182). Small old repair to some volumesA fine uniformly bound set, apart from the 10 fasc. (bound in 5) of the third series.Nissen ZBI, 3808 & 3808a; Horn & Schenkling 20145; Landwehr 182 & 202.
BUFFON, G.L.L. DE, DAUBENTON, LACÉPÈDE (and others).
Amsterdam, Schneider/ Dordrecht, Blussé, 1766-1799. 38 parts, bound in 19 vols. 4to (267 x 210mm). With engraved portrait of Buffon, numerous engraved vignettes, 10 folding engraved maps and 1144 engraved plates. Contemporary uniform green half calf, spines with red gilt lettered label, gilt lines, lettering and ornaments, marbled sides. The present 'l'Allamand' edition is the only 4to edition to rival the original French Imprimerie Royale edition (1749-1804) in 44 volumes. It does not contain the later published volumes by Lacépède on fishes and whales, as these were published after the date of above edition, it however contains numerous additions by l'Allamand which were included in the later French Buffon editions. All plates are after drawings by de Sève, the famous French landscape painter. The animals are depicted in their natural habitat, amidst charming landscapes, villages, rivers, mountains etc. These elaborately drawn plates, full of elegance, became exceedingly popular and have often been copied by later artists."Schneider's edition in the French language was called a 'Nouvelle Edition' on the title-page. It was edited by Jean Nicolas Sebastien Allamand, professor of natural history at the University of Leiden. The order of the articles is generally similar to the Paris edition, but Allamand changed the sequence when he thought it fitting and he added articles about new or little-known mammals in suitable places within Buffon's text". (L. Rookmaaker. J.N.S. Allamand's additions . to the 'Nouvelle Edition' of Buffon's 'Histoire Naturelle')."Buffon's work is of exceptional importance because of its diversity, richness, originality, and influence. Buffon was among the first to create an autonomous science, free of any theological influence. He emphasized the importance of natural history and the great length of geological time" (DSB).The contents of the volumes is as follows: Histoire naturelle générale, & Les Mammifères. 15 volumes with portrait and 603 engraved plates. - Histoire naturelle des Oiseaux. 9 volumes with 263 engraved plates. - Histoire naturelle des Quadrupèdes ovipares et des serpent. 2 volumes with 63 engraved plates. - Histoire naturelle des Minéraux. 5 volumes with 8 large folded maps. - Supplement. 7 volumes with 215 engraved plates and 2 fold. maps. The work is rare as only 150 copies were subscribed (see subscibers list vol. 9).Faint occasional marginal dampstaining to a few vols. not touching the plates. A fine and attractive uniformly bound copy. Free endpaper with old printed name.Piveteau 150; Nissen ZBI, 678.
BATEMAN, J.
London, J. Richway & Sons. (1837)- 1843. Elephant folio (740 x 525 mm). One-page subscriber's list, addenda and corrigenda slip bound at back, lithographic pictorial title and 40 fine hand-coloured lithographic plates, drawn on stone by P. Gauci after Miss S.A. Drake (16), Mrs. Augusta Withers (21), Miss Jane Edwards (1), Samuel Holden (1), and one unsigned, one uncoloured plan of Epiphite-houses and 38 wood engraved vignettes, two by George Cruikshank, all plates with explanatory leaf of text. Contemporary brown half morocco, richly gilt decorated spine with gilt lettering, marbled sides, gilt edges (old rebacking preserving original spine, corners and ends of spine with old repair). First edition of one of the rarest, and "perhaps the most renowned and sought-after of all orchid books" (W. Stearn, John Lindley p. 133). Limited to 125 copies only, the work is "probably the finest, and certainly the largest botanical book ever produced with lithographic plates In size and in splendour, Bateman's giant folio eclipses the works of all who went before or came after him. Maxim Gauci, who was born in Malta, executed the forty lithographs a master of the process, he arranged his tone from the palest of silvery greys to the richest velvet black; his outline is never mechanical or obtrusive; the hand-colouring executed with consummate skill" (Blunt. The Art of Botanical illustration pp. 249 & 252). The book also has the odd distinction of being the only botanical work with illustrations by George Cruikshank, one which parodies the volume's massive bulk and the inconvenience thus caused to librarians."This magnificent elephant folio is botany's riposte to Audubon's 'Birds of America' (Desmond, Great Natural History books and their Creators p. 19).James Bateman (1811-1897) was a wealthy landowner and horticulturalist who nurtured a lifelong passion for rare orchids, and transformed his Staffordshire home at Biddulph Grange into one of the most beautiful gardens in Britain (now managed by the National Trust).Some foxing to text and plates.Provenance: Bookplate with Crown and monogram MCR (?).Great Flower Books p. 48; Nissen BBI 89; Stafleu & Cowan 342.
BOERHAAVE, H.
Leiden, Jansson Vander Aa, 1727. 2 vols (bound in one). 4to (225 x 175 mm). pp. (xxxviii, without blank *4, as is always the case), 320; (ii), 270, (18), with engraved vignettes on titles, folding engraved plan of the Leiden garden, and 39 engraved plates (some double-page). Contemporary vellum (old rebacking with recent label). First edition, second issue (first, 1720, differing only in imprint and date) of Boerhaave's great catalogue of plants in the Leiden botanic gardens, in which some 5846 species are described. The work is the sequel to the 1710 catalogue, which contained descriptions of c. 3700 plants. The work is prefaced with a brief history of the gardens, which Boerhaave became curator of in 1709. Between his appointment and the appearance of the present work he had added some 2000 new species of plants, many being South African and North American. The Hunt catalogue describes the Index as 'a monumental work., provided with generic descriptions, correlated polynomial specific names, detailed synonymy and engraved plates. The general arrangement derives from Hermann, Ray and Tournefort but has its own features. of interest as the last comprehensive work with generic descriptions published before Linnaeus 'Genera plantarum of 1737' (Hunt Catalogue II. part I. pp. liv-lv). The plates depict newly discovered species, including 24 proteas. These were based on paintings Boerhaave had obtained from Jan Hartog, superintendent of the Company's garden at the Cape. These were later used by Weinmann in his Phytanthoza iconographia (Ratisbon 1737-45). The paintings are now in the Rijksherbarium, Leiden (see M. Gunn and L.E. Codd, Botanical exploration of South Africa pp. 41-43). A fine copy, the title page of the second volume with some slight marginal staining, some contemporary notes in neat handwriting.Lindeboom 436; Nissen BBI, 186; Johnston 345; Stafleu and Cowan TL2 593; see H. Veendorp and Baas Becking, The development of the gardens of Leyden University 1937, chapter V.
