NISSEN, CLAUS.

Bestiaries of Five Centuries.

Olten Weiss-Hesse Antiquariaat 1968 Folio portfolio. Although 100 copies of the American edition were intended for publication, the edition was never published. The present set may be considered a proof copy to be shown to prospective subscribers, and as such is quite possibly unique. Contains 60 illustrated leaves, each individually matted, out of important books on animals from Meydenbach's "Ortus Sanitatis" of 1491, to Thomas Bewicks's figures of British land birds of 1800, to Theodore Jasper's "Birds of North America: Drawn and Colored From Life" of 1878. As in the German edition, the plates were to be explained in the accompanying quarto catalogue in wrappers, which is internally blank in this copy since it was never published, and is housed in a pocket inside the linen drop-back box. Of the 60 leaves, two are incunabular with woodcuts, six are from the 16th century, seven are from the 17th century, about 20 are from the 18th, and the remainder are from the 19th century. Among the animals are a hand-colored armadillo and reclining seal from von Schreber's "Die Säugethiere" of 1775. Except for a couple of very small spots of soiling to the linen-covered box, this set is extremely fine. (Leaf Book).

• USD 5,500.00 > otras divisas
• nº de pedido: 18839

• librero: Bromer Booksellers Inc. (USA)