Frankfurt am Main, 1592. Small oblong folio (18.0 x 27.0 cm). Single plate, finely and beautifully hand-coloured.

A fine plate of this very rare work which comprises four parts with 48 plates in all. All plates are very uncommon, if not rare. This plate illustrates a mouse, a white butterfly, a crane fly, a colourful caterpillar, a snail, a walnut, a pear, and several flowers, including a lily and a rose. The plate is titled in Latin, "even mice can bite a wicked man". This work is generally renowned for its finely executed entomological illustrations. Joris (Georgius) Hoefnagel (1542-1601) produced the Archetypa during his 'Frankfurt period' which was between 1591 and 1594. "The Archetypa were engraved as a reproduction of a collection of models and served in turn as a pattern book for other artists" (quote from Archetypa Studiaque Patris... Nature, Poetry and Science in Art around 1600, by Thea Vignau-Wilberg, Staatliche Graphische Sammlung München, 1994). This work was published uncoloured. The colouring is therefore always later and may vary in quality. A weak, vertical crease and some minor creasing; very professional old paper repairs to the lower margin, hardly visible, otherwise a fine, strong, unmarked, accurately coloured print. Hollstein IX, 17-64; Horn-Schenkling, 10472; Nissen ZBI, 1954.