Erlangen, Johann Jakob Palm, 1800-1811. Five parts in one. 4to (25.2 x 20.1 cm). First title page (verso blank), [ii (preface)], [iv], [ii], [iii-iv; vii-viii; v-[vi], 208 pp. (with second title [1801], third title [1802], fourth title [1804], and fifth (last) title [1811]); 20 finely engraved plates with beautiful original hand-colouring. Later 19th-century full embossed cloth. Spine with gilt ornaments and title; boards with blind-stamped ornamental borders. Marbled edges.

Doubtlessly the most important entomological contribution by the German medical doctor and zoologist (chiefly entomologist and botanist) Johann Friedrich Wolff (1778-1806). This German edition was published simultaneously with a Latin edition ( Icones cimicum). Both are rare, especially in a complete state. It contains many new species that are beautifully illustrated. Originally hand-coloured copies, such as this one, are very rare. Wolff died prematurely at the age of 28, while caring for French soldiers taken as prisoners during the Napoleonic Wars, and, according to Hagen, the last part was published in 1811 by Wolff's father, the botanist Johann Philipp Wolff (1743 or 1747-1825). The preliminary pages to the parts are sometimes chaotically numbered, but all are present. A few pencilled annotations in an old hand. Text leaves rather foxed; the plates, however, much cleaner, and in all a very good copy. Rare. Hagen II, p. 294; Horn-Schenkling, 24336; Nissen ZBI, 4439.