Johann Conrad Susemihl | Teutsche Ornithologie, [Darmstadt, 1837-1841], 2 volumes

Johann Conrad Susemihl

[Teutsche Ornithologie. Darmstadt, 1837-1841]

2 volumes, folio (460 x 312mm.), text in German, Latin and occasionally French, 132 hand-coloured engraved plates by Susemihl and others (some plates on Whatman paper dated 1794, some on M. de I.A. Huber watermarked paper), nineteenth-century half calf, spine with raised bands in seven compartments, red morocco lettering-piece, marbled endpapers, lacking title and preliminary leaves,scattered spotting, extremities rubbed

Teutsche Ornithologie was originally issued in parts between 1800 and 1817, with the second edition appearing between 1837 and 1841. The work was an attempt to create "a German parallel to the sumptuous ornithological works of other countries, notably of France, e.g. Levaillant's works, to which it was compared at the time" (Anker). The text was written by a large and changing number of editors, including M.B. Borkhauser (under whose name the book is sometimes catalogued), J.W. Lichthammer, C.W. Bekker, and others.

LITERATURE:

Anker 52; Fine Bird Books, p. 61; Nissen IVB 907; Zimmer, p. 81