Nürnberg, Raspe, [1761]-1776. 4to (20.7 x 16.5 cm). 376 pp.; 44 finely engraved plates in original hand-colouring by Kleemann. Contemporary full mottled calf. Spine with five raised, gilt-lined bands; compartments rich gilt with floral borders and central vignette; two morocco labels with gilt title. Boards with gilt-rolled stippled and floral borders. Marbled endpapers.

A beautifully illustrated work on, principally, butterflies, written and illustrated by the German entomologist and miniature-painter Christian Friedrich Carl Kleemann (1735-1789). The colouring is truly superb. Most illustrations deal with butterflies and moths, their caterpillars, eggs, and, in several cases, fodder plants. A few plates are devoted to dipterids, and a spider. This work is sometimes regarded as a continuation (fifth part) of the Monatlichen Insecten-Belustigungen, written by the author's father-in-law, the German miniature-painter, entomologist, and herpetologist August Johann Rösel von Rosenhof (1705-1759), but there is no internal evidence for this, apart from the fact that no title page was issued. After Kleemann's death, the German entomologist Christian Schwarz published a partly reprinted, partly expanded edition, with a title page. Therefore, the current edition, which is much rarer, and not even mentioned by Junk, is sometimes, incorrectly, seen as Part I of that work. Four additional text pages and eight pages of introduction were printed a bit later, but are almost always lacking. Boards and spine a bit worn; some occasional light toning and offsetting, but otherwise clean, very good. Hagen I, p. 420; Horn-Schenkling, 11854; Junk Rara, p. 159; Nissen ZBI, 2201.