With 60, Mostly Early, Zoological Leaves, Including Two Incunabular, and 28 Colored, with an Emphasis on Felinity

TIERBUCHER AUS FUNF JARHUNDERTEN.

(LEAF BOOK - ZOOLOGY). NISSEN, CLAUS.

(Zurich: L'Art Ancien S. A. Antiquariat; Munich: Robert Wölfle Antiquariat; Olten: Weiss-Hesse Antiquariat, 1968). The leaves of various sizes, put into mats of uniform size and contained in a case measuring 495 x 362 mm. (19 1/2 x 14 1/4"). Booklet: 2 p.l., 5-108, [1] pp. Plus [2] folio-sized leaves listing the title, publisher, and contents. No. 8 OF 100 SETS in German (there were an additional 100 sets in English).

The leaves uniformly matted; text in original paper wrappers (housed in a pocket in the inside upper cover) and leaves contained in the original folding rough-textured linen case, printed paper label on front cover and spine. With a full color double-page facsimile housed in a printed paper bifolium noting that it was "put together for Konrad Graf Reuttner, Schloss Achstetten," and ILLUSTRATED WITH ZOOLOGICAL LEAVES FROM 60 DIFFERENT BOOKS, as called for, including woodcuts and engravings of all manner of animals (including two incunabular leaves, and 28 WITH CONTEMPORANEOUS HAND COLORING), plus an additional matted engraving not called for. ◆Some foxing to the case, though the cloth bright and showing almost no wear (as is the case with commentary volume); mostly light browning, dampstaining, or foxing on perhaps a dozen leaves, one leaf (the 1598 Gessner "Fischbuch") with noticeable repairs, one folder torn at bottom corner, but in excellent condition as a whole, and with the majority of the leaves in fine or nearly fine condition.

There are 60 leaves here showing woodcuts, engravings, and lithographs of a wide range of species from the animal kingdom--wild, domestic, and imaginary. The majority of these leaves come from the 18th and early 19th centuries, but there are two incunabular leaves and 14 leaves from the 16th and 17th centuries. The two incunabular leaves, both in fine condition, are the "Ortus Sanitatis" (Mainz, Jacob Meydenbach, 1491) and the same work printed by Johann Pruß in Strassburg ca. 1497-99. Works represented include Pliny, Gessner's illustrations of fish and fowl, Audubon's "Birds of America," and Meyer's "British Birds," among other notable titles. Felinophiles take note: whoever compiled the specimen leaves for the present copy included an inordinate number of illustrations of cats. There are a total of 13 leaves depicting cats both great and small, including one print not called for in the list of contents. (ST18431)

Price: $3,900.00