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Details
MARIA SIBYLLA MERIAN (1647-1717)
Over de voortteeling en wonderbaerlyke veranderingen der surinaamsche insecten. Amsterdam: J. Frederic Bernard, 1730. 2° (550 x 380mm). Engraved allegorical frontispiece by F. Ottens, engraved title vignette and 72 plates after Merian by J. Mulder, P. Sluyter and D. Stoopendaal. (Two small stab holes, one through the centre of the title and 25 following leaves (affecting 16 plates), the second through the outer margin of the title and the following 58 leaves (affecting the image area of 1 plate and the margins of 22 plates), 170mm. tear from lower margin into plate area of plate 48, 50mm. tear to outer blank margin of pp.22/3.)
[and:]
De Europische insecten. Amsterdam: J.F. Bernard, 1730. 2° (550 x 380mm). Half-title, title in red and black with engraved vignette, 1 engraved tail-piece, allegorical frontispiece by F. Ottens and 184 plates by Merian on 47 sheets. (30mm. tear to lower blank margin of the third leaf with plates, occasional light soiling to outer blank margins.)
The two works uniformly bound in modern half vellum, spines with black morocco lettering-pieces, uncut.
A FINE UNCOLOURED SET OF THESE FUNDAMENTAL WORKS BY MERIAN, the 1730 Dutch edition of Metamorphosis insectorum surinamensium, here offered in the customary way with the same publisher's 1730 edition of De Europische insecten. The latter was first published in Nuremberg as Der Raupen wunderbare Verwandelung und sonderbare Blumennahrung, in two volumes, 1679-1683, before the artist/naturalist had left her native Germany for Holland. It was her first book, demonstrating the early development of her passionate interest in insects and their transformations. Merian and her daughter, Johanna Helena, arrived in Surinam in September 1699. Despite the high mortality rate, she stayed in Dutch Guyana for nearly two years, making an in-depth study of the plants and insects, and recording them in the magnificent Metamorphosis insectorum surinamensium which she herself first published in Amsterdam in 1705. The present (second Dutch) edition includes an additional 12 plates by Johanna, and as Landwehr (p.28) states so emphatically the 'artistic groupings of the insects amid the tropical flora makes this book one of the most beautiful and unusual in the whole range of natural history'.
The present works are unusual in that they are uncoloured and also uncut. At the time of publication the works would have been available in both coloured and uncoloured form. The subsequent (mainly 20th-century) demand for the coloured form outstripped the supply of copies with original colouring and many of the remaining uncoloured copies were 'improved' by the addition of hand-colouring. Whilst it is undeniable that copies with original hand colouring are the most desirable, the present uncoloured form allows the synthesis of Merian's and the engravers' art to be seen in its purest state. Dunthorne 205; Hunt 484 and 483; Landwehr Dutch Books with Coloured Plates 130 and 136; Nissen BBI 1341.
Over de voortteeling en wonderbaerlyke veranderingen der surinaamsche insecten. Amsterdam: J. Frederic Bernard, 1730. 2° (550 x 380mm). Engraved allegorical frontispiece by F. Ottens, engraved title vignette and 72 plates after Merian by J. Mulder, P. Sluyter and D. Stoopendaal. (Two small stab holes, one through the centre of the title and 25 following leaves (affecting 16 plates), the second through the outer margin of the title and the following 58 leaves (affecting the image area of 1 plate and the margins of 22 plates), 170mm. tear from lower margin into plate area of plate 48, 50mm. tear to outer blank margin of pp.22/3.)
[and:]
De Europische insecten. Amsterdam: J.F. Bernard, 1730. 2° (550 x 380mm). Half-title, title in red and black with engraved vignette, 1 engraved tail-piece, allegorical frontispiece by F. Ottens and 184 plates by Merian on 47 sheets. (30mm. tear to lower blank margin of the third leaf with plates, occasional light soiling to outer blank margins.)
The two works uniformly bound in modern half vellum, spines with black morocco lettering-pieces, uncut.
A FINE UNCOLOURED SET OF THESE FUNDAMENTAL WORKS BY MERIAN, the 1730 Dutch edition of Metamorphosis insectorum surinamensium, here offered in the customary way with the same publisher's 1730 edition of De Europische insecten. The latter was first published in Nuremberg as Der Raupen wunderbare Verwandelung und sonderbare Blumennahrung, in two volumes, 1679-1683, before the artist/naturalist had left her native Germany for Holland. It was her first book, demonstrating the early development of her passionate interest in insects and their transformations. Merian and her daughter, Johanna Helena, arrived in Surinam in September 1699. Despite the high mortality rate, she stayed in Dutch Guyana for nearly two years, making an in-depth study of the plants and insects, and recording them in the magnificent Metamorphosis insectorum surinamensium which she herself first published in Amsterdam in 1705. The present (second Dutch) edition includes an additional 12 plates by Johanna, and as Landwehr (p.28) states so emphatically the 'artistic groupings of the insects amid the tropical flora makes this book one of the most beautiful and unusual in the whole range of natural history'.
The present works are unusual in that they are uncoloured and also uncut. At the time of publication the works would have been available in both coloured and uncoloured form. The subsequent (mainly 20th-century) demand for the coloured form outstripped the supply of copies with original colouring and many of the remaining uncoloured copies were 'improved' by the addition of hand-colouring. Whilst it is undeniable that copies with original hand colouring are the most desirable, the present uncoloured form allows the synthesis of Merian's and the engravers' art to be seen in its purest state. Dunthorne 205; Hunt 484 and 483; Landwehr Dutch Books with Coloured Plates 130 and 136; Nissen BBI 1341.
Provenance
IGN Nieuwenhuis (ink library stamps on title of first work and half-title of second).
Dr Anton C.R. Dreesmann (inventory no. Y-25).
Dr Anton C.R. Dreesmann (inventory no. Y-25).
Special notice
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