Rumpf Rare Book on Shells

RUMPF, Georg Eberhard (1628-1702).
Thesaurus imaginum piscium testaceorum.
The Hague, 1739.
Comparable: Christie's, 2007 - $5,400.
Folio (16 x 9 6/8 inches). Title-page printed in red and black with engraved vignette (one or two spots). Fine engraved portrait of Rumpf, additional engraved allegorical title-page (creased), 60 exceptionally fine engraved plates, 4 large engraved vignette head- and tail-pieces, woodcut initials (plates XIII and XXXV with long closed tears). Contemporary sprinkled calf (rebacked preserving the original spine, corners strengthened, some surface abrasions). Provenance: Richard Harris, his sale Bloomsbury Book Auctions, New York, The Richard Harris Collection: Natural History & Colorplate Books, 13th October 2010, lot 93 Rumpf's comprehensive depiction of Crustacea, including lobsters and crabs, exotic shells and minerals. First edition in Latin of the "Amboinsche Rariteitkamer" published in 1705. Better known as a botanist, Rumpf or Rumphius, was the author of the posthumously published "Herbarium Amboinense", 1741, devoted his life to the study of natural history in the Moluccas, Indonesia. In that book he describes more than a thousand plants and provides the first major account of the east Indonesian flora. In 1652, Rumphius joined the military branch of the Dutch East India Company and sailed for Batavia. Soon he was transferred to Ambon in the Moluccas, where he was worked in a civilian role and began to study the local flora and fauna. His expertise in natural history was encouraged the Dutch governor-general, and Rumphius was able to establish a library and a small garden there. "He spent the next three decades compiling twelve volumes on the natural history of Ambon, continuing even after he lost his sight at the age of 42 (probably to glaucoma), with the help of scribes...He completed the final volume in the 1701, the year before his death, but the Herbarium was not published until 1741. This was initially due to an embargo being placed upon it, for it was deemed by the government to contain sensitive information. The botanist Johannes Burmann eventually published the work. Meanwhile, Rumphius' Ambonese Curiosity Cabinet, describing animals, fish, birds, fossils and minerals, was published in 1705" (Natural History Museum online).