Historiae Naturalis de Insectis Librii III, de Serpentibus et Draconibus Libri II

Amsterdam: Joannem Jacobi Fil. Schipper, 1657. Folio (14 ¼" x 9", 360mm x 230). Second edition. First Amsterdam edition. With 40 engraved plates, including the title page. Bound in modern calf. On the spine, 5 raised bands with gilt red morocco letting piece in the second panel. Although the title page calls for three libri of insects, there are four. There are 27 plates of insects and 12 of snakes. Historia Naturalis de Insectis, Libri 4. Historia Naturalis de Serpentibus, Libri 2. Minor scuffing to the spine. Heavy foxing throughout. Marginal staining. Damp staining to snake plates IV -XII. The engravings were after Matthäus Merian (1593-1650 ), a Swiss engraver. First published by Merian in 1649 and 1650. Though born and educated first in Poland, Joannes Jonston (1603-1675) was of Scottish descent, and "in 1622 [he went] to the University of St Andrews. Here he matriculated as Polonus Patre Scoto Prognatus on 29 January 1624, and studied Hebrew, divinity, and philosophy until March 1625. Jonston spent the next four years abroad but returned to England towards the close of 1629, taking courses in botany and medicine at Cambridge, and continuing his studies in London during 1630, when he wrote the greater part of his first important work, the 'Thaumatographia'. He next proceeded to study medicine at Leiden, where he graduated MD in 1632. In a visit later that year to England he was admitted to the same degree ad eundem at Cambridge. After more travel on the continent, Jonston appears to have settled in Leiden about 1634. He practised medicine there for several years and gained a great reputation. He wrote in Latin on a number of subjects, and was considered a polymath by a number of his contemporaries. Jonston was offered the chair of medicine at the University of Leiden in 1640, and two years later a similar offer was made by the elector of Brandenburg. Jonston, however, declined these offers, preferring instead to study independently. His works were considered by some to be laborious compilations, while Chaufepié and other critics suggested they exhibited more learning than judgement. However, in England his efforts were much esteemed during the seventeenth century. His chief works included 'Thaumatographia naturalis, in decem classes distincta' (1632), which was dedicated to Prince Janusz Radziwill and his son, Boguslas.,'Systema dendrologicum' (1646), 'De piscibus et ceti's (1649), 'De avibus' (1650), 'De quadrupedibus' (1652), 'De serpentibus et draconibus' (1653), De Insectis, 'Naturµ constantia' (1652), which was translated by J. Rouland (1657), 'Notitia regni vegetabilis .' (1661), 'Notitia regni mineralis' (1661), and 'Dendrographias, sive, Historia naturalis de arboribus et fructibus' (1662). Matthäus Merian was a notable Swiss engraver born 1593 in Basel. He learned copperplate engraving in Zurich, though he studied later in such citMies as Strasbourg, Nancy and Paris. He returned to Basel in 1615, moving to Frankfurt 1616. There he worked for Johann Theodor de Bry, the celebrated publisher whose daughter, Maria Magdelana he married in 1617. In 1620 he and his family moved back to Basel, though they returned to Frankfurt in 1623. Maria took over her father's publishing house upon his death. Nissen ZBI 2135, Wood 409.…