⁂ Please note the description of this lot has changed ⁂

Jonston (John) Historiae Naturalis..., 5 parts in 2 vol., 4 engraved titles, 2 titles with woodcut devices, 248 engraved plates, woodcut initials and illustrations, bookplates, small textual repair on printed title in vol. 1, occasional marginal losses and worming, red marks to foot at end vol. 1, spotting (worse in vol. 2), browning, contemporary calf, sympathetically rebacked, spine gilt in compartments, worn, [USTC 2103911; Nissen ZBI 2132; 2132; 2133; 2134; 2135], folio, Frankfurt am Main, M. Merian, [1650-1653].

⁂ First edition of this seminal work; not only did Jonston's enormous compilation become the standard seventeenth century encyclopaedia on natural history, but Merian's plates similarly became an illustrative cornerstone, extensively reprinted and copied for over a century.