"HISTORIA NATURALIS'' JONSTON & MERIAN 1657

A beautiful original Folio copy of the second edition of "Historia naturalis" by Jan Jonston.

Published by J. J. Schipper in Amsterdam in 1657, engravings by Matthäus Merian the elder. (The whole work appeared originally in Frankfurt between 1650 and 1653 and consisted of six sections, each devoted to a specific animal typology).  The second edition contains the following four sections bound from V down to II:

V. DE PISCIBUS ET CETIS: fish primary & exotic, whales and sea monsters including the monstrous Swordfish, Centipede, Saw-fin & Balaena whales, Sea Serpent, Simia Marina, Olaus Magnus’s Giant Ray, Jenny Haniver, Merman & Mermaid… (Title page + 47 plates + text pages)

IV. DE EXANGUIBUS AQUATICIS: crabs, lobsters, shrimp, shells… (Title page + 20 plates + text pages)

III. DE INSECTIS: butterflies, bees/hives, wasps, flies, beetles, spiders, caterpillars… (Title page + 28 plates + text pages)

II. DE SERPENTIBUS ET DRACONIBUS: snakes, serpents and dragons including sea monsters such as the Seven Headed Hydra, Giant Sea Serpents, and the Ray Winged Sea Dragon… (Title page + 12 plates + text pages)

Joannes Jonstonus – Jonston/Johnston (1603 – 1675) was a Doctor of Medicine and a well-travelled and prolific writer on natural history, who published numerous works, including "Historia naturalis" in Frankfurt, Germany, from 1646 to 1662.

"Jonston’s writings were ahead of his predecessors, and some of his contemporaries, and his work on fishes was exceptionally good for its time”.

S. Peter Dance & Geoffrey N. Swinney Classic Natural History Prints – Fish. London, 1990

CONDITION:

Fine modern binding in parchment, raised bands with handwritten titles to spine. Folio - cover 38 x 25 cm 15 x 10 inches, pages/plates 37.5 x 23 cm 14 ½ x 9 inches approx. 300 plus pages. Binding tight with no loose pages, text & plates on chain-lined paper. Minor imperfections expected with age include: small penciled page numbers (easily erased), a few plates bound out of sequence, old tear repairs to a few plates, faint small crease lines to a few plates, severe marginal wear to a few plates, dusting to a few plates.

Overall a superb edition with the vast magority of text and plate pages in excellent condition along with strong illustrative woodcut copperplate engravings.