Maria Sibylla Merian | Der Rupsen Begin, Amsterdam, [1712-1717], 3 volumes in 1

Maria Sibylla Merian

Der Rupsen Begin, voedzel en Wonderbaare Verandering. Amsterdam: Gerard Valk (parts 1 and 2) [and Johann Oosterwijk (part 3)] for the author, [1712-1717]

3 volumes in 1, 4to (235 x 173 mm.), 3 hand-coloured engraved frontispieces with foliate or floral wreaths, 150 hand-coloured engraved plates, contemporary panelled calf gilt, spine gilt in six compartments, red morocco lettering-piece, marbled edges, closed tear to volume 1, pp. 1-2 (not affecting text), marginal inkstaining to a few leaves in volume 1 (not affecting text or illustrations), marginal discolouration to frontispiece plates, Volumes 2 and 3 (not affecting illustrations), scattered spotting and browning

"In modern terms, Maria Sibylla Merian may be best characterized as an amalgam of natural history illustrator, naturalist, and, to a certain extent, entrepreneur" (Huxley, The Great Naturalists, p. 105). Merian was the daughter of the well-known Swiss engraver and publisher Matthäus Merian. On her father’s early death, her Dutch mother married the flower painter Jacob Marrell. It was one of his pupils, Johann Graff of Nuremberg, who first taught Maria to paint, and later they married. Maria was primarily interested in entomology, and her first book, on the insects of Europe, with fine coloured plates of insects and flowers, was published in 1679. Some years later she was shown a collection of tropical insects which had been brought back from Surinam. This inspired her, and together with her daughter Dorothea, she embarked on a remarkably enterprising journey to South America, arriving in September 1699. They stayed for nearly two years studying and recording the plants and insects.

LITERATURE:

Huxley, The Great Naturalists, pp. 105-108; Nissen BBI 1342; STCN 182154297