78/2364 [Zoology]. Nissen, C. (introd.). Tierbücher aus fünf Jahrhunderten. 60 Originalblätter aus Werken aus deutscher, englischer, französischer, italienischer, niederländischer und Schweizer Offizinen des 15.-19. Jahrhunderts. Zurich/ Olten/ Munich, Antiquariat l'Art Ancien/ Weiss-Hesse/ R. Wölfle, 1969, 4 prel. textleaves and 60 orig. leaves (all under passepartout, 31 (partly) hancol.), loose as issued in orig. cl. drop-back box, folio, with separate textbook (114,(1)p., orig. wr., 4to) loosely inserted in front-pocket, published in 200 numb. copies (100).

- All in very fine condition.

= One of 100 copies with German text. Every copy is composed of different original leaves from books from the 15th to the 19th century (in this copy books from 1484 to 1885), and therefore unique as Nissen states in his foreword (p.10): "Wo die größte Mühe der Herausgeber lag, liegt auch der besondere Reiz des Werkes: jedes Exemplar is individuell zusammengestellt, keines gleicht dem anderen." This copy includes leaves from i.a. J. MANDEVILLE, Reise nach Jerusalem (Strasb., 1484); C. GESSNER, Thierbuch (Frankf. a.M., 1600); J. JONSTON, Historiae naturalis de quadrupedibus (Amst., 1657); P.J. BONNATERRE, Tableau encyclopédique (...) Ichthyologie (Paris, 1788) and G. EDWARDS, A Natural History of Birds (London, 1802-1805). Nissen's collection intends to illustrate the (European) evolution of both animal depiction and printing techniques. It was created with the sole use of "verschieden umfangreichen Fragmenten" (and without "in verantwortungsloser Weise zu vereinzeln" a complete copy) from the collections of three antiquarians. In the same design, "Kräuterbücher aus fünf Jahrhunderten" was published by Nissen in 1956. SEE ILLUSTRATION PLATE LXIII.