Gleichen Russworm, W. F. Von [Rußwurm, Rusworm]
Das Neueste aus dem Reiche der Pflanzen oder mikroskopische Untersuchungen und Beobachtungen der geheimen Zeugungstheile der Pflanzen in ihren Blüten, und der in denselben befindlichen Insekten; nebst einigen Versuchen von dem Keim, und einem Anhang vermischter Beobachtungen, beschrieben, und mit Farben nach der Natur vorgestellet. Herausgegeben, verlegt und mit den nöhtigen in Kupfer gestochenen und illuminirten Abbildungen versehen von Johann Christoph Keller.
Nürnberg, Christian de Launoy seel[ig] Erben, [1763]-1764-[1766]. Folio (39.2 x 25.0 cm). Title page with motto on verso, half-title with motto on verso; 159 pp. [(iv), 8, (iv), 72, 40, (vi), 26]; 51 engraved plates [numbered I-V, IIb (all showing microscopes); I-IV, A-E, V-XXX (mainly showing flowers); 1-10 (mainly showing insects)], all in fine, original hand-colouring; and decorated with several large, finely engraved headpieces. Contemporary blind half vellum over speckled boards. Edges speckled red.
First edition of a seminal publication by the German botanist, entomologist, microscopist and stable master of the Margrave of Bayreuth, Wilhelm Friedrich von Gleichen-Rußwurm (1717-1783). The fern genus Gleichenia was named in his honour. The very large and very finely coloured engravings show various types of 18th-Century microscopes, the sexual organs of many different plant species, and insects involved in the fertilisation - all in in great detail. In the rear is an Anhang vermischter Beobachtungen, with its own title. This part contains the plates numbered 1-10 with several quite exquisite illustrations of insects. The title page is dated 1764, but Stafleu and Cowan show that it was published in instalments, starting in 1763, and the Anhang perhaps not published until 1766. An identical second edition, under a different title, was published in 1790, and a French translation in 1770. However, this is the rare first edition. Provenance: on the front pastedown an anonymous armorial bookplate, which, however, belongs to the Löffelholz family, perhaps the forester Sigmund Friedrich Löffelholz von Kolberg (1807-1874), or the Nuremberger magistrate, Friedrich Freiherr Löffelholz von Kolberg (1775-1818). Boards and spine slightly soiled, and rubbed, especially at the edges; some weak spotting in the upper margin of a few text leaves; one leaf with a short, marginal tear; otherwise an excellent, clean copy, with strong impressions and bright colouring. Horn-Schenkling, 7960; Nissen BBI, 716; Stafleu and Cowan, 2037. Not in Nissen ZBI.
