Rare books from Antiquariaat Schierenberg

London, for the author, [1787]-1793-1826. 4to (24.5 x 15.5 cm). With 2709 hand-coloured engraved plates (over 150 of these folding and a few uncoloured). A complete set of the first and second series. Bound in contemporary green half calf with gilt lettering and marbled boards. = Curtis' Botanical Magazine became the longest running botanical journal in history. It was published under various titles bearing Curtis' name until 1983. William Curtis (1746-1799) was an apothecary who sold his business to concentrate on his real interest: the study of natural history. He began the Botanical Magazine in 1787, a journal devoted to decorative and unusual plants that appealed to gardeners. Fore edges uncut. Title pages are dated 1793 onwards. Some plates with faint (ranging to light) offsetting to the white background of the image. A few pages and plates slightly browned or age-toned. The hand-colouring of plates still bright. Plant number 120 is present uncoloured, without text. An index to plant… Read More

London, J. Ridgway, 1815-1847. 34 volumes. Large 8vo (24.2 x 15.3 cm). Text and 2,707 beautifully hand-coloured engraved plates and three plain engravings for a total of 2,710 plates, plus nine hand-coloured engraved plates in the appendix. Very nice half green morocco bindings by Bernard Middleton. Spines with five raised bands, gilt floral vignettes and title. Marbled endpapers. Top edges gilt. = It is very uncommon to see a complete set on the market, consisting of all volumes with all the plates as well as the rare appendix by Lindley. Nissen only quotes 2702 plates; Stafleu and Cowan have a more precise collation, although also incorrect. The Botanical Register was founded by Sydenham Edwards in 1815 to promote an understanding of ornamental flowers cultivated in British gardens. It concerns mostly Mediterranean and exotic species. Edwards had been one of the original botanical artists for Curtis's Botanical Magazine. The Botanical Register published superb botanical engravings for each… Read More

[Catania], A. T. Tagliarini, "1879" [1880]. Oblong folio, with 30 (of 33 or 34?) original albumen prints of slightly variable size, on average 17.5 x 32.0 cm (plates 1-22), or four times 19 x 24 cm (plates 23-24), all mounted on 24 (of 25?) very large printed boards, each 48.5 x 56.8 cm and with a gilt frame of 29.2 x 39.1 cm (plates 1-22), or four times 20.4 x 25.8 cm (plates 23-24) with printed captions mounted, and printed captions on the boards. In clamshell box of navy pebbled cloth over marbled boards (58.3 x 51.4 x 3.7 cm) with original printed labels on the front board recto and verso. = An excessively rare work with spectacular original photos of the 1879 double-eruption of Mount Etna. All gilt-captioned "Eruzioni dell'Etna" or "Terremoti successivi all'eruzione 1789", and with additional, explanatory captions laid on the negatives and thus part of the photos. The photos were made under very difficult circumstances, mainly due to the unstable terrain,… Read More

Leiden, Pieter van der Aa, and Utrecht, François Halma, 1696. Folio (39.5 x 25.4 cm). Half title [Aardgewassen], engraved frontispiece title [Aard-Gewassen] with full page allegorical engraving Rerum Magistra by Goeree and engraved by I. Baptist; second title page with full title in red and black, and engraved vignette Cultior his vita est, half title to second part; 563 pp. [(xxxiv), 465 (with 930 numbered columns), (lxiv)]; 245 engraved plates (on 243 sheets). Chapters with beautiful large, engraved allegorical head and tail pieces. Contemporary blind-tooled vellum. Spine with seven raised bands and burgundy morocco label with intrinsic gilt borders and gilt title. Front and rear with blind-ruled borders and center arabesque. = This herbal is the magnum opus of the Dutch botanist and director of the Groningen Hortus Botanicus, Abraham Munting (1626-1683). Published posthumously. This is the only Dutch edition. In 1702 a Latin version Phytographia curiosa with a much reduced text (merely an… Read More

Leiden, S. Luchtmans and J. Luchtmans, 1839-1844. Three volumes in five, including a matching drop box. Folio (42.6 x 29.1 cm). 1379 pp.; 258 plates on 257 sheets (and one double, not counted), of which all but 81 finely hand-coloured, and four maps, of which one double-sized, and all but one partly hand-coloured. Uniform contemporary dark green half morocco over grained boards. Spines with five raised bands; gilt ornaments at head and foot, and gilt title. Speckled edges. = An unusually well-preserved set - without the usual brittleness, toning and foxing. Carefully bound in five, contemporary, equal-sized volumes; the zoology in two parts, and the ethnography plates as issued, in a drop box. This is by far the most extensive and detailed work on the rich and diverse fauna, flora, and ethnology of the former Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). Edited by the Dutch ornithologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck (1778-1858), this is largely the work of the German - later Dutch - zoologist Salomon Müller… Read More

Venice, Bernhard Maler (Pictor), Erhard Ratdolt and Peter Loslein, 1477. Two parts in one. Folio (27.3 x 20.4 cm). 343 [211, 132] leaves. Early 17th-century full vellum. Spine with three raised bands and script title in an old hand. Edges speckled red. = Famous incunabulum, one of the first books that appeared with woodcut ornaments: the borders for both the Historia Romana and De Bellis Civilibus are an intricate pattern of vines and acanthus leaves, the first here printed in red, a rare process seen only in a very few copies. Usually, these ornaments are simply printed in black. Also, this is the first book with ornaments on a black background, including the large initial on the first page. Contents-wise, this is the first complete edition of the surviving portions of Appian’s Roman History, written in Greek and translated into Latin by Petrus Candidas Decembrius. “Appian of Alexandria (ca. 95-ca. 165) was a Greek historian with Roman citizenship who flourished during the reigns of… Read More

London, Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, [1828-] 1830. 4to (31.2 x 24.6 cm). With 30 splendidly hand-coloured engraved plates, all heightened with gum arabic, each with a descriptive leaf of text [AND] one extra original water-colour. Contemporary green ruled half calf over marbled boards; spine with gilt ornaments and title. Yellow endpapers. Top edge gilt. Preserved in a custom-made black cloth, luxurious, clamshell box with built-in cradle and black label with gilt title on the spine. = First edition of probably the most spectacular publication on tropical fish, renowned for its accuracy and beauty. Bound in is a fine watercolour drawing on wove paper, most probably by Bennett. All plates are vividly coloured and belong to the very best ever made on the subject. '[C]ontains 30 hand-coloured plates which are so lovely that it is one of my favourite old natural history books on any subject' (Buchanan). Many species were new to science. Bennett included the local names, even in the… Read More

Stuttgart, Kernen Verlag, 1909-1954. 20 volumes in 29. 4to (31.5 x 25.0 cm). Text and 1,458 chromolithographed plates. Uniform publisher's - and later, matching half calf. Spines with gilt ornamental bands, gilt lepidopterological vignettes, and coloured shield with gilt titles. = A complete, bound set of the rarer and more sought-after English edition of this important standard work on Macrolepidoptera. Its fine plates were made using the process of 10- to 14-colour lithography, and its excellent quality has remained unsurpassed. The editor, Friedrich Joseph Adalbert Seitz (1860-1938), planned to finish the whole work in 1912. This proved to be quite unrealistic as publication stopped in 1954, and several volumes remained unfinished. The most important collections of butterflies were consulted, including those of L. W. Rothschild of Tring, the British Museum, the Paris Natural History Museum, the Senckenberg Museum at Frankfurt, as well as collections in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Australia, and South-… Read More

London, Smith, Elder and Co., [1838]-1849. Five volumes in five. Large 4to (31.6 x 26.6 cm). Reptilia: (ii [index], 28 [appendix] pp., errata leaf; 78 plates (75 plates hand-coloured, plates 30, 42, and 48 plain as intended); Mammalia: vii pp. (including index); 52 plates (numbered I-XVII, XIX-XXXVI, XXXVIII-LIII, VIIIbis); 48 hand-coloured, four (8bis, 15, 21, 25, plain, as intended); plates 18 and 37 not published - see Mammalia index list); Pisces: [i] p. (index); 31 hand-coloured plates; Aves: [ii] pp.; 114 hand-coloured plates; Invertebratae: [ii], 75 pp.; four hand-coloured plates, making a total of 279 plates (272 hand-coloured) most by and after George H. Ford, and all with descriptive text on unnumbered leaves. Uniform publisher's green blind-stamped cloth with floral pattern on the boards and gilt title on the spines. Brown endpapers. = This is a rarely seen complete copy, in a fine condition, of this magnificent magnum opus of the British naturalist Sir Andrew Smith (1797-1872),… Read More

Amsterdam, Frans Buffa & Zonen, [1865]-1872. Folio (64.0 x 48.0 cm). Title page in red and black. 24 fine chromolithographed plates, finished by hand and heightened with gom arabic, mounted on larger sheets, and each with an original, small, printed caption mounted. Original green grained cloth portfolio with gilt title on the front board. A second, smaller, duplicating title-index leaf on thick paper, also printed in red and black (43.0 x 28.3 cm) loosely inserted. = The self-taught draughtsman and painter Abram "Ab" Salm (1801-1876) spent nearly thirty years on Java as a tobacco planter. Salm was a member of the Koninklijke Academie der Beeldende Kunsten (Royal Academy of Arts). His paintings - arguably the most beautiful 19th-century images of the perplexingly rich and varied Javanese landscape - caught the attention of the Amsterdam art dealers and publishers Pierre Beguin and Alberto Caramelli, who commissioned a renowned Dutch artist, Johan Conrad Greive (1837-1891) to engrave… Read More

London, George Nicol, 1796-1801. Two volumes in one. Elephant folio (51.5 x 35.3 cm) (Board size 52.5 x 37.0 cm). Volume I (1796): 91 pp.; Volume II (1801): v, 45, [iv] pp.; Appendix I-III [1804-1809]: pp. 47-53, [iv]; and 91 [46; 42; 3] finely engraved and mostly hand-coloured plates on 87 sheets (first plate 31 and 46, and three Appendix plates intentionally uncoloured). Contemporary blind-tooled half calf over marbled boards. Spine with rich gilt bands and morocco label with gilt title. = A splendid, rare work including the extremely rare second part (published by G. and W. Nicol) with original hand-colouring. Written by the Scottish physician and naturalist to the British East India Company, Patrick Russell (1726-1805). According to Adler, this work "may well be the most physically imposing book ever written exclusively on a herpetological topic". All species are extensively described, and their local names are added. In several, orthographic varieties are noted between the name as… Read More

Paris, E. Deyrolle, 1874. Oblong folio (26.8 x 36.8 cm). 50 chromolithographed ("chromographie") plates, finished by hand. Contemporary green morocco over green marbled boards. Spine with five raised, gilt-lined bands and title. Marbled endpapers. = A magnificent ornithological and mammalogical atlas, with beautiful illustrations by the French artist Théophile Louis Deyrolle (1844-1923) - mainly known as a genre and landscape painter, which shows here, and published by his elder brother, the taxidermist and natural history dealer Émile Gustave Achille Deyrolle (1838-1917). The first 48 plates, except five, are dated (janvier to décembre 1874). This includes a large suite of 40 numbered pheasant plates (numbered I-XVIII, XXIII, XXIII[bis], XXV, XXV[bis], XXVII-XXIX, XXXI-XXXIV, XXXVI-XXXIX, XXXIX[bis], XL-XLV). The second XXIII, and XXV could be errors for XXIV and XXVI, but this leaves the double use of XXXIX, as well as the absence of XIX-XXII, XXX, and XXXV… Read More

Stuttgart, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt (Louis Friedrich Sachse), 1834. Oblong folio (34.0 x 48.5 cm). 45 finely engraved and original hand-coloured plates (numbered I-XXIX, XXXI-XXXXIV, XXXIII[bis], XXXIV[bis]), of which two much larger, folded, and three with originally hand-coloured overlays, partly augmented with gum arabic. Contemporary full straight-grained green morocco. Spine with four raised, gilt-ornamented green bands, and gilt ornamental head and tail pieces; boards with quadruple gilt-lined borders with floral gilt cornerpieces. Original marbled slipcase with a red morocco label with gilt ornamental border and gilt title on the front board. = A wonderful atlas, characterized by broad panoramas with peculiar overlays, written by the German nobleman, Count (later Prince) Hermann Ludwig Heinrich von Pückler-Muskau (1785-1871). "Pückler was born in Muskau on 30 October 1785 as a Sunday’s child. During his childhood, Pückler attended various educational institutions and… Read More

Darmstadt, 1800-1817-1841. In two parts. Folio (46.3 x 31.3 cm). 132 [67; 65] colour-printed plates, in careful, original hand-colouring, with accompanying descriptive text leaves in German, and, often, also in French. Uniform polished half calf over floral-patterned, embossed boards. = The major German bird book of the early 19th century; sometimes seen as a German answer to the several fine, large folio French bird books from that period, of which several were colour-printed too. It differs from its French peers in occasionally having several - up to four - different plates devoted to one species - showing male and/or female and/or juvenile specimens on different plates, and in having extremely large images, often truly dominating the plates. Originally published in 21 parts ("Hefte"), of which the last one was published in 1817, six years after the penultimate part. This last part is 'very rare' (Sitwell). Many copies lack the last six plates. A reprint "Neue Folge" was… Read More

[Verdun], not published, 1855-[1871-1875]-1880. Folio (28.1 x 19.2 cm). 382 leaves of which three with a handwritten index; 23 with a handwritten half-title, and 356 with delicately drawn and coloured mushrooms. Somewhat later half morocco over marbled boards. Spine with four raised bands. Compartments with gilt title. Marbled endpapers. = A stunningly rich, varied, and scientifically important album of fine watercolours, accurately depicting mushrooms and other fungi collected by the French archaeologist, numismatist, entomologist, botanist and mycologist Jean-Félix Liénard (1812-1894), who lived in Verdun, north-eastern France. All illustrations are finely hand-coloured, and nearly all have a caption stating the French vernacular and Latin scientific name; the collecting locality and substrate (if any), and several other facts, e.g., on synonymies, edibility, etc. Collecting dates - to the day - are often included. The species are arranged taxonomically. Several specimens are shown in… Read More