Seba, Albertus

First edition, Latin/Dutch issue, 4 volumes, folio (497 x 335mm.), half-titles, main-titles printed in red and black with engraved vignette, engraved portrait of the author by Houbraken after Quinkhard (a photographic reproduction of this is also bound into volume 3, but only one portrait is called for), engraved allegorical frontispiece “Industria” by Tanjé after Dubourg, 449 engraved plates, (175 of the plates double-page), by Tanjé, van der Laan, de Bakker, van Buysen, de la Croix, Folkema, Jongman, Morellon, Putter, Punt, and van der Speyk, contemporary Dutch vellum, [Anker 454; Fine Bird Books, p.106; Landwehr 179; Nissen BBI 1825; Nissen ZBI 3793], bookplate of A.M. Labouchere, bookseller’s ticket of J.B. Bailliere, Regent Street, inkstamp of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland on titles, occasional spotting (text more than plates), small rust-holes in volume 1 plates 46 and 59 not affecting image, first portion of volume 2 with a patch of browning, later spine labels

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, where appropriate
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The most sumptuous and complete record of any of the eighteenth-century cabinets of natural history.

Albertus Seba was an apothecary in Amsterdam who became rich in the service of the Dutch East India Company. During this time the Dutch, through the Company, commanded the most extensive network of trade and colonies in the world, and it was by exploiting this that Seba managed to acquire his collection. Accordingly, Seba gathered a vast array of specimens from Sri Lanka, Greenland, Indonesia and other far-flung places. Many specimens were South American, particularly Brazilian; these came to him via the Dutch colony in Surinam. The present work is a catalogue of his second and grandest cabinet of natural rarities, including mammals, birds, plants, insects, butterflies, reptiles, amphibians, fish, crustaceans, shells, minerals and fossils. His first collection had been sold in 1717 to Peter the Great of Russia for the then huge sum of 15,000 guilders. However, his new collection soon surpassed the earlier one, and was much admired by Linnaeus, although the latter denounced the seven-headed hydra as a fake. This notwithstanding, Seba's cabinet played an important part in Linnaeus's classification of the natural world.

Such was the magnitude of Seba's collection that his private museum became something of a tourist attraction, visited both by passing dignitaries and naturalists. One of the latter was Maria Sybilla Merian, who made use of the cabinet in her great work on Surinamese insects. Seba died in 1736 with the last two volumes of the catalogue still awaiting publication. The collection itself was auctioned in 1752, in order to finance the completion of the catalogue. Many of Seba's specimens still survive in European museums.