JONSTON, Johannes (Matthias GRAUS, translator).
Naeukeurige beschryving van de natuur der vier-voetige dieren, vissen en bloedlooze water-dieren, vogelen, kronkel-dieren, slangen en draken.
Amsterdam, Jan Jacobsz. Schipper, 1660. 6 parts (issued as 4) in 1 volume. Folio. With a general letterpress title-page without imprint, 2 letterpress part-titles without imprint, 4 hand-coloured engraved part-titles and with 250 expertly engraved plates, 249 coloured by a contemporary hand. Further with woodcut decorated initials, coloured by hand with the letters themselves in gold. 18th-century(?) blind-tooled vellum. [8], 194; [6], 179, [1]; 56; 181, [3]; [4], "152" [= 154]; [1], [1 blank], 39, [1] pp.
€ 27,500
The first and only Dutch edition of Jonston's zoological encyclopaedia, exquisitely coloured by a contemporary hand. It was first published three years earlier in Latin as Theatrum universale historiae naturalis (Amsterdam, J.J. Schipper, 1657). The 6 parts cover quadrupeds, fish and aquatic mammals, "bloodless" sea animals (mostly invertebrates), birds (including bats), "grooved or twisted" animals (insects, spiders, worms, snails, crustaceans, etc.), and snakes and dragons. The 250 striking plates, while unsigned, were evidently engraved by Matthäus Merian the elder (1593-1650) and his sons Caspar (1627-1686) and Matthäus the younger (1621-1687) (Anker, Bird books 234, and others). Nearly every plate illustrates several animals (with insects sometimes dozens), including various mythological and fantastic creatures, such as a dragon, phoenix, harpy, griffin and mermaid. The present copy is especially valuable as a rare example with the plates, including the engraved title-pages, skilfully coloured by a contemporary hand.
With some manuscript annotations on the plates in the birds part, adding the common names of the birds in English and/or French. One plate originally lacking in this copy (showing snakes) has been loosely inserted from an uncoloured copy. With some creases in the first engraved part-title and one in the general title-page, occasional very faint water stains or minor thumbing but further internally very good. The front hinge repaired, spine and corners slightly damaged and the boards somewhat rubbed. A wonderfully hand-coloured Dutch edition of Jonston's famous zoological encyclopaedia. DNB vol. 30 (1892) pp. 80-81; Nissen ZBI 2149 (calls for 249 plates, missing one in part 2); STCN 840917651 (vissen en bloedloze waterdieren); 840917597 (vogelen); 84091749X (gekerfde of kronkeldieren, slangen en draken); 84091735X (viervoetige dieren, including the general title-page); this ed. not in BMC NH
Related Subjects:
