Nissen, ZBI, 2227; Brunet, III, col. 682; Graesse, IV, p.35.<\/i><\/p>\n
First edition, completed and published after the death of its author in 1761.<\/span><\/p>\n A magnificent work, based on originals preserved in several cabinets of curiosities – including those of Trew and M\u00fcller – which “ont e\u00fb la bont\u00e9 de fournir les moyens d’en tirer les figures au vif, les arracher ainsi \u00e0 l’oubi, & faciliter par l\u00e0 l’avancement des connaissances humaines dans les secrets admirables de la Nature. Il \u00e9toit d’autant plus convenable de mettre de cette fa\u00e7on un \u00e9tude aussi noble \u00e0 la port\u00e9e de tout le monde, que les Originaux & Chefs-d’oeuvre de la Nature, dont nous faisons ici part au Public, sont rares, & qu’on ne les trouve gu\u00e8res rassemblez dans un seul & m\u00eame Cabinet” (pr\u00e9face).<\/p>\n Knorr’s interest in natural history began to develop when he worked with other artists to create engravings to illustrate Scheuchzer’s Physica Sacra<\/i>, published between 1731 and 1735 in Augsburg.<\/p>\n “Knorr was one of the protogeologists of the eighteenth century who is intermediate between the collectors of cabinets of natural history and those who first made use of fossils for the identification and mapping of stratigraphic succession. This was the generation that finally established the organic origin of fossils and accumulated sufficient descriptive material to classify their finds within the biological kingdom, thus providing the paleontologic basis for the law of faunal succession… The extraordinary quality of the plates, representing the eighteenth century continuation of the tradition of D\u00fcrer, led to expansion of the work by Walch, as well as to French and Dutch edition. It is scarcely an exaggeration to say that the beauty of some of Knorr’s illustrations exceeds that of their models and that in all cases the artist’s eye has transformed neutral, natural objects into permanent, formal aspects of humanism. The detail and accuracy of Knorr’s engravings not only made possible zoological classification but firmly established the distinction between fossils of organic origin and sports of nature” (DSB).<\/p>\n The work contains the follwing engravings : corals (15 plates), shells (7), butterflies (6), urchins (4), minerals (6), crustacea & spiders (7), starfish (4), fish (9), birds (7), quadrupeds (14), reptiles & amphibians (12). Plate K:XI remargined.<\/p>\n Rare copy, complete with all plates and containing the almost always missing engraved portrait.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 2 volumes, large folio (513 x 357 mm) 13 nn.ll. (title in German, title in French, 7 nn.ll. dedication, 4 nn.ll. bibliography) engraved portrait frontispiece by Schweikart after Ihle, VIII, 132 pp., engraved and colored title dated 1754, 38 engraved and colored plates for volume I; 2 nn.ll. (title in German, title in French) XX, 144 pp., 53 engraved and colored plates for volume II. Contemporary mottled sheep, spine gilt with raised bands, red edges.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":85468,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[540],"product_tag":[1240],"class_list":{"0":"post-85523","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-natural-history","7":"product_tag-18th-century-illustrations","8":"pa_auteur-knorr-georg-wolfgang-2","10":"first","11":"instock","12":"shipping-taxable","13":"purchasable","14":"product-type-simple"},"acf":{"artist":" Georg Wolfgang KNORR","chapeau":"Complete with its 91 plates, the rare engraved portrait, and the engraved title","adresse_bibliographique":"Nuremberg, George Wolfgang Knorr, 1766-1767","book_type":"","provenance":"","afficher_prix":""},"yoast_head":"\n