Author: RUMPHIUS, Georg Eberhard
Title: D’Amboinsche Rariteitkamer
Date: 1705
Price: GBP £ 9,000
Book Code: 552

GEORG EBERHARD RUMPHIUS

D'Amboinsche Rariteitkamer, Behelzende eene Beschryvinge van allerhande zoo weeke als harde Schaalvisschen, te weeten rare Krabben, Kreeften,en diergelyke Zeerdieren,als mede allerhande Hoorntjes en Schulpen, die men in d'Amboinsche Zee vindt: daar beneven zommige Minaraalan, Gesteenten,en soorten van Aarde, die D'Amboinsche, en zommige omleggende Eilanden gevonden worden.

Amsterdam, Fr.Halma  1705. FIRST EDITION, Folio, fine modern binding of tan calf with elaborately gilt spine , [28], 340, [43] S., with engraved Frontispiece, Portrait, and 60 finely engraved plates many after drawings by Maria Sibylla Merian.

     £9,000.00

The very rare first edition  with a much finer and more delicate engraving than the later editions of this classic on the marine life of the area of the Molucca Islands in the Indonesian Archipelago. Rumphius was employed by the Dutch East India Company and spent the greater part of his life on the island of Ambon, a small but important trading centre in the Dutch East Indies. He began a systematic study of the flora and fauna of this island, describing and drawing all he saw and sending his manuscripts to Amsterdam. Though far away from centres of western civilisation , Rumphius was not literary isolated. He corresponded with many scholars in the Indies and Europe such as Ten Rhijne, Camphuys, Cleyer, Mentzel, Valentini, etc.and in 1681 he became a member of the Academia Naturae Curiosorum with the honorable name of "Plinius Indicus". This, his most famous work was published in 1705 after his death and was especially interesting and useful for the owners of popular collections of natural curiosities. Recent research has shown that most of the plates were engraved after drawings by Maria Sibylla Merian and although the plates of shells are particularly beautiful the engravings of crustacea are among the most striking ever produced.

Nissen,ZBI 3518;Wood 545.