Auserlesene mikroskopische Entdeckungen bei den Pflanzen, Blumen und Blüthen, Insekten und andern Merkwürdigkeiten.

W. von Gleichen-Russworm, [Rußwurm]

Nürnberg, Adam Wolfgang Winterschmidt, 1777. 4to (33.9 x 20.0 cm). 159, [i] pp.; engraved frontispiece portrait and 83 hand-coloured engraved plates, numbered I-LXXVII, I-VI. Contemporary half roan over yellow paper-covered boards. Spine with five raised, gilt-bordered bands and red morocco label with gilt title. Greenish edges. * Rare first edition complete with all six issues and all the fine plates in original hand-colouring. The large and very finely coloured engravings show various types of 18th-century microscope, the sexual organs of many different plant species, and insects involved in their fertilisation - all in great detail. The frontispiece is a portrait of the author. All numbered plates finely hand-coloured, except plates XXXVII and LXIV, which are merely tinted. Some scattered foxing to the text, title and frontispiece; the plates fine, clean.