Rumpf, Georg Eberhard | A fine copy of the rare first edition of D’Amboinsche Rariteitkamer

Rumpf, Georg Eberhard

D'Amboinsche Rariteitkamer, behelzende eene Beschryvinge van... Schaalvisschen. Amsterdam: Francois Halmer, 1705

Folio (385 x 240 mm). Half-title, additional engraved title, printed title in red and black, engraved portrait of the author, engraved head- and tailpieces, 60 finely engraved plates, some after Maria Sybilla Merian. Contemporary calf, spine gilt; light wear, front joint slightly split at ends, one spine letter lacking gilt, a handsome, crisp copy.

A fine copy of the rare first edition. A landmark of early natural history, Rumpf’s D’Amboinsche Rariteitkamer offers one of the earliest systematic descriptions of shellfish from the Indonesian archipelago. Based on decades of observation in Ambon, a small but important trading center in the Dutch East Indies, Rumpf catalogued local marine life with a rigor and clarity that set a standard for later naturalists. The 1705 Amsterdam edition—published posthumously—presents his careful taxonomy alongside finely engraved illustrations that capture the richness of Indo-Pacific shells. The work stands as both a scientific milestone and a testament to Rumpf’s singular devotion to firsthand study in the field. Though far away from the centers of Western civilization, Rumpf maintained correspondences with scholars in both Europe and the East Indies, and in 1681 he became a member of the Academia Naturae Curiosorum with the honorable name of "Plinius Indicus.” This, his most famous work, was especially interesting and useful for the owners of popular collections of natural curiosities. Recent research has shown that most of the plates were engraved after drawings by Maria Sybilla Merian and, although the plates of shells are particularly beautiful, the engravings of crustacea are among the most striking ever produced.

REFERENCES

Landwehr 591; Nissen ZBI 3518; Wood, p.545 ("rare")

PROVENANCE

Earls of Macclesfield (armorial bookplate; blindstamp on half-title; Sotheby’s London, 16 March 2004, “The Library of the Earls of Macclesfield removed from Shirburn Castle, Part One: Natural History,” lot 88)