L'ADMIRAL, Jacob (1700-1770)
Lot 165

L'ADMIRAL, Jacob (1700-1770)

Naauwkeurige waarneemingen omtrent de veranderingen van veele insekten of gekorvene diertjes. Amsterdam: Johannes Sluyter, 1774.

Closed12 July 2023

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GBP 3,528

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L'ADMIRAL, Jacob (1700-1770)
Naauwkeurige waarneemingen omtrent de veranderingen van veele insekten of gekorvene diertjes. Amsterdam: Johannes Sluyter, 1774.
A finely coloured copy of the second augmented edition of this work on butterflies and their metamorphosis. L'Admiral was an excellent amateur entomologist who had studied insects from the age of 10. The first edition was published in 1740 and contained 25 plates only. After L'Admiral's death, this new edition was seen through the press with a further 8 plates which had been borrowed from L'Admiral by Houttuyn for the butterfly section of his famous illustrated Dutch version of Linnaeus' Systema natura (Natuurlyke Historie, 1761-1785). In the present work L'Admiral illustrates 70 metamorphoses on 33 plates with their habitats. Nissen ZBI 2358.

Folio (439 x 264mm). Engraved title vignette and 33 plate, all finely coloured by a contemporary hand and heightened with gum arabic (occasional faint browning, otherwise a clean, crisp copy). Contemporary mottled calf, covers panelled in gilt with central gilt arabesque, gilt spine and edges, decorative patterned endpapers (expertly rebacked preserving original backstrip, extremities lightly rubbed).