MERIAN, Maria Sybilla.
Over de voortteeling en wonderbaerlyke veranderingen der Surinaemsche insecten ...
Amsterdam, Johannes van Oosterwyk, 1719. Imperial folio (53 x 38 cm). With an engraved frontispiece, drawn and engraved by Frederik Ottens (representing the author in her youth seated at a table with flowers and insects, assisted by 6 putti, while a large decorated arch reveals a tropical landscape in the background with buildings and 2 men stand conversing while Merian, nearby on her knees, is catching a butterfly with a net), and 72 etched counterproofs, numbered I-LXXII in the facing letterpress descriptions (not numbered in the plates themselves). Further with Van Oosterwyks engraved device (a bearded man sitting on the forest floor playing a lyre, with motto, "vigilanter et quieté"), a large engraved headpiece above the dedication, incorporating the arms of the dedicatee, Balthazar Scott, 3 woodcut decorated initials (2 series) and a woodcut factotum. The frontispiece, publishers device and dedication headpiece and illustration plates coloured by contemporary hands, probably by Merians daughters. The frontispiece, title-page (lettering and the divice), and the dedication (both the arms and the lettering) highlighted in gold. Further with 4 woodcut decorated initials (3 series). Gold-tooled vellum (early 1800s), sewn on 8 supports, each board with a large arabesque centrepiece (15.5 x 12.5 cm) with flowers and foliage, with an empty central oval, 2 frames made from 2 different rolls (the inner 9 mm and the outer 10 mm, the latter edged inside with a sawtooth roll), the inner frame with a built-up cornerpiece inside and a crown (26 x 33 mm) outside each corner, the spine with each of the upper 4 and lower 4 compartments containing a built-up centrepiece and 4 cornerpieces, the larger central compartment with 3 lines of text reading up the spine, partly illegible, but probably reading "M S MERIAEN|VERANDERINGEN DER|INSECTEN" and across the head and foot a roll with crossed, dotted diagonal lines. With a built-up armorial centrepiece, apparently preserved from the books first binding in gold-tooled red goatskin morocco, on-laid on the front board near the centre of the fore-edge: a large cartouche (16 x 10.5 cm) with an oval centre (6 x 5 cm), with, around the oval inside the cartouche, floral and interlaced decorations, foliage and 5-pointed stars, and inside the oval the blind-tooled Cervantes coat of arms (37 x 26 mm: 2 stags - though here without antlers - the upper standing and the lower grazing, above "EX ANTIQUIS", with a gold-tooled bishops cross and hat, the hat with 6 + 6 tassels). Further with gilt edges, headbands in green and beige (around a double vellum strip). The work is kept in a modern, custom-made case (half red morocco and marbled paper sides, with the title lettered in gold on the spine). [8], 72 pp. plus frontispiece and 72 plates.
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