Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium. ...Amsterdam, for the author, 1705. Large folio (ca. 54 x 37 cm). With an engraved title-vignette and 60 contemporary hand-coloured, numbered copper engraved plates, the title-vignette is partially covered by another engraving (from Merian's Caterpillar book) and Merian's portrait, engraved by J. Houbraken, mounted on the verso of the title-page. Contemporary blind-tooled parchment by the so-called Quatrefoil Bindery in Amsterdam (Storm van Leeuwen) sewn on 12 supports with corresponding raised bands on the spine. Stored in a modern, custom-made white and sprinkled brown paper case, with a large title-label lettered in gold on the front board and a brown leather title-label lettered in gold on the spine, white ties. by MERIAN, Maria Sibylla

[4], 60 pp. and 60 engraved plates.First edition, in Latin, of one of the most important works by the most famous female artist for natural history in the 17th and 18th centuries, showing Surinam insects coloured by a contemporary hand. Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717) was a German-Dutch painter of plants, flowers and insects. She was the first to systematically draw insects together with the plants they eat and she is also known for the fact that she was the first to depict the different stages of the metamorphosis of caterpillars into butterflies.The present work is a prime example of the first edition of Merian's famous and seminal work on Surinam insects - this first edition was published in 1705 as Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium in both a Dutch and a Latin edition. In 1699, she went to Surinam to study insects and butterflies, including caterpillars, but an illness forced her to return in 1701. The Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium, based on the notes and drawings she made there, contains beautifully executed full-page plates, showing insects and other animals together with the plants and flowers that they eat, which she studied during her stay in Surinam. It includes caterpillars and butterflies and their metamorphosis, worms, toads, lizards, snakes, spiders, shells and the metamorphosis of tadpoles into frogs. It is her most famous and in many ways most important work because she was the first to show the then unknown metamorphosis of butterflies and beetles from Surinam and because it also showed other animals besides insects and plants, such as iguanas and snakes.A copy of the first edition with the Latin text and all 60 engraved plates coloured by a contemporary hand is especially rare on the market, we have been able to trace it only twice at auction in the last 50 years.With 2 additional engravings mounted on the recto and verso of the title-page, respectively a clipping from Merian's Caterpillar book and a portrait of Merian. The binding shows signs of wear, mainly around the corners of the boards and the spine, the work has been re-backed, the boards are somewhat soiled and the design of the blind-tooled centre-piece has lost some clarity. Lightly foxed throughout and with a very small tear in the bottom margin of pp. 11-12 (not affecting the text). The engraved plates remain fine and clear, vibrantly hand-coloured by a contemporary hand. Overall in very good condition.l Dunthorne 205 (and p. 21); Engelmann p. 542; Hagen bibl. entom. p. 535; Horn & Schenkling 14992; Landwehr, coloured plates 128 (note); Nissen BBI 1341; STCN 300349602 (2 copies); WorldCat 800757224, 255420741, 863269071, 1391679477, 223055617 (16 copies); cf. BM NH p. 1290 (Latin ed. 1705 "wanting"); Hunt 484 (1730 Dutch ed.); Pecheron, bibl. entom. p.279 (other Latin title); Pritzel 6105 (other Latin title); Sitwell, Great Flower Books (1705 Dutch ed.); not in Stafleu & Cowan.