Description Du Cabinet Roial de Dresde Touchant L’Histoire Naturelle.
Dresden and Leipzig, G.C. Walther 1755.
Folio (277 x 211 mm.). [ii], 101, [1]p. and TWO LARGE FOLDING ENGRAVED FLOOR PLANS, two large engraved headpiece views of the Zwinger (M. Keyl), engraved royal cipher on the title.
Contemporary half-calf and speckled pastepaper boards (spine and corners rubbed), gilt-ruled spine, gilt-lettered label, edges sprinkled red and blue.
First Edition: “The first separate catalog of the Dresden natural history collections housed in the magnificent baroque Zwinger…. This catalogue is one of the fruits of Augustus the Strong’s reorganisation of the old Dresden Wunderkammer into a number of specialised collections” (Grinke). The first floor housed the minerals, fossils, zoological and botanical specimens, shells, corals, ambers and a model of Solomon’s Temple, while the second floor held the natural history library, scientific instruments, marbles and several empty galleries for the expanding collection. Recounting the collection’s history and commenting on many of its highlights, this was published simultaneously in French and in German, as well as in a bilingual edition. In very good condition (scattered spots).
¶Grinke & Parikian, From Wunderkammer to Museum 50; Fearrington, Rooms of Wonder 57; Universal Catalogue of Books on Art I: 446 (all for the German edition).
Price: $3,200.00