Carus's copy of an exceedingly rare work on turtles

Gottwaldt, C.

D. Christoph Gottwaldts physikalisch-anatomische Bermerkungen über die Schildkröten. Aus dem Lateinischen übersezt. Mit 10 Kupfertafeln.

Published 1781
Item ID 74792
€7,400.00

excl. VAT

Nürnberg, Gabriel Nicolaus Raspe, 1781. 4to (24.1 x 19.0 cm). 32 pp.; ten very large, multi-folded engraved plates. Early 19th-century black marbled boards. Spine with gilt bands and red label with gilt title. Speckled edges.

Single herpetological contribution - and one of his rarest works - by the German physician and naturalist Christoph Gottwaldt (1633-1700), also famous for his Wunderkammer book, Musei Gottwaldiani Testaceorum Stellarum Marinarum et Coralliorum... (1782). Both works were published long after his death, but his illustrations were in accuracy far ahead of his time (see Adler). His collection of natural curiosities was purchased - also long after his death - by Czar Peter the Great of Russia. The illustrations, of turtles and tortoises, are truly excellent. Small stamp of a Swedish institute on the front free endpaper recto, and another, pictorial stamp of the same institute in the title page margin. Small, skillful, repair to head of spine, internally very good, clean. While Gottwaldt'ssimilar Physikalisch-anatomische Bemerkungen über den Biber (1782) is fairly rare, with eight auction records in the last 40 years, we found only a single auction record for this work on turtles, making it extremely rare. Provenance: with on the front pastedown a fine, pictorial bookplate of the famous German zoologist, Darwinist and Darwin-translator Julius Victor Carus (1823-1903). Adler II, pp. 22-23; Nissen ZBI, 1658. Not in Vanzolini.

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