Forum Rare Books

First general systematic treatise on comparative anatomy

BLASIUS, Gerard. Anatome animalium, terrestrium variorum, volatilium, aquatilium, serpentum, insectorum, ovorumque, structuram naturalem ex veterum, recentiorum, propriisque observationibus proponens, figuris variis illustrata.
Amsterdam, J. van Someren, 1681. 4to. With engraved frontispiece by Jan Luyken, and 60 numbered and 5 unnumbered engraved plates. Contemporary vellum. [8], 496 pp. Full description

€ 1,250

Amphibians & Reptiles Birds - Ornithology Insects & Spiders Mammals

First edition of Brodtmann's zoological series containing 144 lithographed plates, seldom found complete

BRODTMANN, Karl Joseph. Naturhistorische Bilder-Gallerie aus dem Thierreiche.
[Zurich or Schaffhausen?], Brodtmann, [1816 and later] (title-page of the "ersten Heft": Lindau, 1816). Heft 1-33 including the supplements, bound in 1 volume. Large folio (46 x 38 cm). With a lithographed title-page and 144 lithographs drawn by Brodtmann himself showing humans, other mammals, reptiles and amphibians, birds, insects, etc. 19th-century brown marbled paper over boards. [8] (title and index) ll.; 36 (Heft 1-18); 16 (Heft 26-33); 6 (Heft 19-21); 10 (Heft 22-25); 4 (Supplement) pp. Full description

€ 18,500

Amphibians & Reptiles Birds - Ornithology Faunas & General Zoology Insects & Spiders Mammals

Rare, finely hand-coloured set of Buffon’s Histoire naturelle in its rarest and most luxurious form

BUFFON, Georges-Louis Leclerc de. Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière, avec la description du cabinet du roi. Nouvelle édition.
Dordrecht, Abraham Blussé, 1766-1799. 38 parts in 21 volumes. Large 4to. With more than 1100 hand-coloured engraved plates, 10 maps, 1 folding engraved table, and an engraved portrait of Buffon (by Houbraken, with an extra-added uncoloured portrait pasted on the verso). Contemporary, uniform half tanned sheepskin. Full description

€ 125,000

Amphibians & Reptiles Birds - Ornithology Earth Sciences Fishes Prints & Print Series

Complete fourth series (reptiles & amphibians) of Buffon's seminal work

[BUFFON, Georges Louis Leclerc and] Bernard Germain Étienne de la Ville-sur-Illon, comte de LACÉPÈDE. Histoire naturelle des quadrupèdes ovipares et des serpens [= Histoire naturelle, vols. XXXVII-XXXVIII].
Dordrecht, A. Blussé and son, 1799. 2 volumes. 4to. With 63 engraved plates. 19th-century uniform half calf, gold-tooled spines. 10, 276, [2]; 14, "280" [= 284] pp. Full description

€ 2,500

Amphibians & Reptiles Faunas & General Zoology

First German/Latin edition of Catesbys influential "Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands", richly illustrated and hand-coloured

CATESBY, Mark, Nicolaus Friederich EISENBERGER and Georg LICHTENSTEGER. Piscium serpentum insectorum aliorumque nonnullorum animalium nec non plantarum quarundam imagines ... | Die Abbildungen verschiedener Fische, Schlangen, Insecten, einiger andern Thiere, und Pflanzen...
Nürnberg, Johann Joseph Fleischmann, 1750. Folio. With 42 hand-coloured copperplate engravings (34.5 x 25 cm). Early nineteenth-century period-style half leather binding with marbled boards, title in gold-tooling to board in gilt lettering. [2], 42, [84] pp. Full description

€ 29,500

Amphibians & Reptiles Caribbean Islands Fishes Latin America Mexico Middle America North America USA - United States of America

Influential pharmacopoeia, choosing chemical pharmacy over Galenic pharmacy

CHARAS, Moyse. [Engraved title-page:] Pharmacopoea regia Galenice et chymica. [half-title]: Opera tribus tomis distincta: I. pharmacopoea regia galenica II. pharmacopoea regia chymica III. tractatus de theriaca & tractatus de vipera.
Comprising:
(1) CHARAS, Moyse. Pharmacopoea regia Galenica.(2) CHARAS, Moyse. Pharmacopoea regia chymica.(3) CHARAS, Moyse. Historiam naturalem animalium, plantarum et mineralium, theriacae andromachi compositionem ingredientium, cum experiments circa viperam
Geneva, Joannis Ludovici Du-Four, 1684. 3 works published as 1. 4to. With engraved general title-page, engraved author's portrait, 6 engraved plates and 3 engraved folding plates. Contemporary blind-tooled vellum. [11], [1 blank], 496; [8], 449[=451], [1 blank], [28]; [4], 275, [1 blank] pp. Full description

€ 8,500

Amphibians & Reptiles Geology Iran / Persia Medicine & Pharmacy (17th Century) Pharmacy / Pharmacopaea

A natural history with 56 hand-coloured plates: the fossils, flora and fauna of the earth

HILL, John. A general natural history: or, new and accurate descriptions of the animals, vegetables, and minerals, of the different parts of the world; with their virtues and uses, as far as hitherto certainly known, in medicine and mechanics: ...
London, Printed for Thomas Osborne, 1748-1752. 3 volumes. Folio. With 56 hand-coloured plates (16 on plants, 28 on animals and 12 on fossils, some signed by B. Cole) and in volume 3 also 1 folding table.Contemporary green morocco, richly gold-tooled spines with red morocco labels, gold-tooled frames on the boards, marbled endpapers. Volumes misnumbered on the spines (vols. 1-3 labeled 3, 1 and 2 respectively). [12], 1-228, 333-592, *457-*592, 593-654, [6]; XXVI, 642; [7], [1 blank]; [8], 584, [4]; pp. Full description

€ 8,500

Amphibians & Reptiles Birds - Ornithology Earth Sciences Faunas & General Zoology Fishes Floras & General Botany Flowering Plants Insects & Spiders Mammals Shells & other Invertebrates

Zoological work including unicorns and dragons, with 95 engraved plates

MERCKLEIN, Georg Abraham. Neu ausgefertigtes historisch-medicinisches Thier-Buch in vier besonderen Theilen verabfasset; ... Wobei verschiedene, wieder allerhand Kranckheiten bewehrte Geness-Mittel: angezeiget.
Nuremberg, Johan Friedrich Rüdiger, 1714. 8vo. With a double-page engraved frontispiece, engraved by Johan Lorentz Hönnig, a double-page letterpress title-page printed in red and black, and 95 engraved plates, each depicting several animals. Contemporary vellum. [26], 732, [72] pp. Full description

€ 3,500

Amphibians & Reptiles Birds - Ornithology Faunas & General Zoology Fishes Mammals Shells & other Invertebrates

Dragons, basilisks, hippogryphs and a phoenix: very rare work on determining
the zoological status of some mythical animals

[NATURAL HISTORY - ANIMALS - MYTHOLOGY]. Ausführliche und accurate Beschreibung nebst genauer Abbildung einiger vorhin fabelhafter Geschöpfe welche in der heutigen Naturgeschichte berühmter Schriftsteller ganzlich verändert und ins Licht gestellet sind.
Leipzig, [W. Nauck], 1784. 8vo. Set in roman and fraktur type. With 8 contemporary hand-coloured engraved folding plates bound at the end, depicting the fabulous dragons, reptiles, sea-dragons, snakes, unicorn and flying dragons and birds (including a phoenix). Contemporary or early 19th-century blue marbled paper over stiff boards, blue sprinkled edges. 144 pp. Full description

€ 5,800

Amphibians & Reptiles Faunas & General Zoology Museums & Wunderkammer

A scientific study of the natural history of Norway, including its sea monsters

PONTOPPIDAN, Erich. The natural history of Norway ...
London, printed for A. Linde, 1755. 2 parts in 1 volume. Folio. With a large folding engraved map of Norway by Johann Baptist Homann, and 28 engraved plates depicting minerals, shells, fishes, birds, mammals, plants, and the inhabitants of Norway. Contemporary gold- and blind-tooled calf, with gold-tooled corner edges of the boards, gold-tooled turn-ins and marbled edges. XXIV, 206; VIII, 291, [12] pp. Full description

€ 5,850

Earth Sciences Faunas & General Zoology Fishery & Whaling Floras & General Botany Marine Biology & Oceanography Scandinavia

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