Meyer, Johann Daniel

Estimate

15,000 - 20,000 USD

bidding is closed

Description

Angenehmer und nützlicher Zeit-Vertreib mit Betrachtung curioser Vorstellungen allerhand kriechender, fliegender und schwimmender, auf dem Land und im Wasser sich befindender und nährender Thiere... Nuremberg: Johann Joseph Fleischmann, 1748-1756
paper, ink, leather

3 volumes in 2. Folio (17 1/2 x 11 3/4 in.; 440 x 295 mm), 2 engraved titles (parts I and II), engraved frontispiece portrait of the author, 2 titles with vignette (parts II and III), 240 engraved plates, all colored by hand; dampstaining on inside lower corner of first and last leaves of vol. I and inside upper and lower corners of vol. II (not affecting the text or the illustrations in both cases). Contemporary Dutch calf, large gilt medallion in the center of the panels, gilt floral garlands framing the panels, gilt ornament on spine; rubbed, top of the spine of vol. I damaged, bottom of spines of vol. II split.

Literature

Fine Bird Books, p.94; Nissen IVB 630; Sitwell, p.123

Catalogue Note

First edition. A nice copy with bright coloring.

"A very rare and unusual book which has a plate of each bird, and underneath or on a succeeding page a plate of its anatomy" (Sitwell, p.123). Of these splendid plates, 100 represent birds in brightly colored plumage. Exotic and, sometime, mystical animals depicted include the rhinoceros, elephant, and armadillo. The plates of the 3rd part do not show the anatomy of the represented animal.