Beyträge zur Geschichte de Vögel herausgegeben von Joseph Franz Edlen von Jacquin, der physisch-medizinischen Gesellschaft zu Basel Mitgliede. Mit ausgemahlten Kupfertafeln
Vienna: Christian Friederich Wappler, 1784. First edition.
Quarto (12 1/8” x 9 3/16”, 307mm x 234mm): binder’s blank, π2 *2 A-F4, binder’s blank [$3 signed; –F3; *2 signed “**”, F4 signed “***”]. 28 leaves, pp. [8] (title, blank, dedication, blank, 4pp. preface), 1 2-45, [3] (blank, 2pp. contents). With 19 hand-colored engraved plates by J. Adam and A. Amon.
Bound in XIXc half calf over marbled boards (re-backed). On the spine, 3 raised bands. Title and author gilt to sheep in the second panel. Top edge of the text-block sprinkled red, with the fore and lower edges untrimmed.
Re-backed, with the original label (?) laid down. Wear to the extremities. Some soiling to the title-page (with an obliterated ownership signature in blue crayon). Repaired tear to the fore-margin of B4, not affecting the text. A little peripheral tanning with the odd spot of foxing. Excellent margins, with deckles preserved on most leaves.
At the ripe age of 18, Joseph Franz von Jacquin (1766–1839) compiled this account of American birds from the notes and drawings of his father Nikolaus Joseph (1727–1817; created Edler von Jacquin in 1774 and Freiherr (Baron) von Jacquin in 1806) made during his 1755–1759 tour. The elder Jacquin brought in addition live specimens, which were placed in the Schönbrunn menagerie. With German text printed in black-letter and Latin descriptions — the standard for the genre, especially in the post-Linnaean world — Jacquin the younger describes and characterizes birds that will have been still unfamiliar to his readership, including members of the genera Anas (ducks) and Columba (pigeons).
One imagines the author his interviewing his father for deeper detail, especially for the coloration of the birds; in correspondence with Linnaeus in the 1760’s, the elder Linnaeus describes caring for many of the live specimens in his terrarium, but it is unclear how many survived into the 1780’s. The engravings are nevertheless fine, Zimmer (op. cit.) calling the illustrations “excellent for the period.”
Anker 220; Ayer/Zimmer 320; Nissen, IVB 466; Sitwell, Fine Bird Books 83.
Item #JLR0526
Price: $9,000