Folio. Engraved title-page, (20), CXXVIII, (2), 200, (2) pp. With 2 heraldic engravings and 33 engr. plates. - (Bound with) II: Valentijn, François. Abhandlung von Schnecken, Muscheln und Seegewächsen, welche um Amboina und den umliegenden Inseln gefunden werden. Als ein Anhang zu G. E. Rumphs Amboinischen Raritätenkammer [...]. Ibid., 1773. VIII, 148 pp. With 18 (2 folding) engr. plates. Contemporary calf with label to gilt spine. First German edition. The Hessian scientist Rumpf had come to Ambon Island (part of the Maluku Islands of Indonesia) in 1635 as a member of the Dutch East India Company. His description of Ambonese seashells remains a classic of early marine biology. The plates of this edition are reversed copies of plates 17-49 of the Dutch original, published in 1705. - II: First German edition of the "Verhandeling der Zee-Horenkens en Zee-Gewassen" (1754). Valentijn was a preacher in the Ambon and Banda Islands and published an important description of East India. - Engravings of I bound at the end of the text. Second dedication leaf slightly spotty; otherwise very clean. Several engravings show slight creases to the margins. Several gatherings in II slightly browned. Binding slightly scuffed; spine and hinges restored, using mainly the old material. - Altogether a very nice copy. I: Ebert 19609. Landwehr, VOC 593. Graesse VI.1, 192. Nissen, ZBI 3519. - II: Nissen, ZBI 4215.
