RUMPHIUS, Georg Everhard.
d'Amboinsche rariteitkamer, behelzende eene beschryvinge van aleerhande zoo weeke als harde schaalvisschen, te weete raare krabben, kreeften, en diergelyke zeedieren, als mede allerhande hoorntjes en schulpen, die men in d'Amboinsche zee vindt: daar benevens zommigen mineraalen, gesteenten, en soorten van aarde, die in d'Amboinsche, en zommige omleggende eilanden gevonden worden.
Amsterdam, Jan Roman de jonge, 1741. Royal folio (44 x 27.5 cm). With engraved title-page, engraved author's portrait, 60 engraved plates and 5 engraved vignettes. Contemporary red half roan (sheepskin). [24], 340, [43], [1 blank] pp.
€ 8,500
Second edition, in the original Dutch, of a monumental and splendidly illustrated account of Ambonese and other East Indian marine specimens excluding vertebrate fish, apparently drawn in the year of the death of the owner, Rumphius. The 60 large engraved plates show crustaceans, sea urchins, sand-dollars, starfish, shellfish, barnacles and coral, along with crystals, minerals, amber, fossils and even some man-made artefacts. Some plates show one large figure, others more than twenty small ones. Its precise descriptions and information on habitat anticipate modern marine biology.
Rumphius, a German physician and naturalist, worked for the Dutch East India Company (VOC) from 1652 to his death, mostly on Ambon in the Moluccas. Traditionally the illustrations were attributed to Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717), but this has recently proven erroneous.
Slightly creased, otherwise in very good condition and wholly untrimmed, leaving broad margins. Binding slightly rubbed and sides a bit soiled, but still firm and good. Landwehr & V.d. Krogt, VOC 591 note; Nissen, ZBI 3519.
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