BECKER, Wilhelm Gottlieb (editor).
Der plauische Grund bei Dresden, mit Hinsicht auf Naturgeschichte und schöne Gartenkunst.
Nuremberg, Frauenholzischen Kunsthandlung, 1799. 2 parts in 1 volume. Folio. With an engraved folding plan, and 24 engraved plates, including 8 hand-coloured. Early 19th-century green half morocco. XII, 128; [4], 120 pp.
€ 3,500
First edition of a work on landscape gardening, including the part on natural history, often lacking, written by Wilhelm Gotlieb Becker (1753-1813). The first part consists of a description of the area around Dresden, its geology, vegetation, villages and the ruins that can be found there. Twelve of the fine views of the first part are made after drawings by the famous Johann Christian Klengel (1751-1824). "Meisterwerk der Dresdner Landschaftskunst des späten 18. Jahrhunderts" (Lanck.-Oehler).The second part, describing the natural history of the region, contains three texts, each with its own divisional title: Mineralogische Beschreibung des Plauischen Grundse bis Tharand by Andreas Tauber, with four hand-coloured plates on geology and minerals, Verzeichniss der im Plauischen Grunde und den zunächst angrenzenden Gegenden wildwachsenden Pflanzen, by Friedrich Traugott Pursch and Verzeichnis der merkwürdigsten Insecten welche im Plauischen Grunde gefunden werden, by Ludwig Heinrich Freihern von Block, also with four hand-coloured plates, displaying various insects.
Foxed with some marginal waterstains. Binding rubbed along the extremities. Otherwise in good condition. Lanck.-Oehler III, 49; Stafleu & Cowan 8403.
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