World Famous Comics: Cabinet of Natural Curiosities: The Complete Plates in Colour, 1734-1765
Cabinet of Natural Curiosities: The Complete Plates in Colour, 1734-1765
From: Taschen Publisher: Taschen Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 543 Publication Date: October 01, 2005 Studio: Taschen
Product Description: Albertus Sebas Cabinet of Natural Curiosities is one of the 18th centurys greatest natural history achievements and remains one of the most prized natural history books of all time.Though it was common for men of his profession to collect natural specimens for research purposes, Amsterdambased pharmacist Albertus Seba (16651736) had a passion that led him far beyond the call of duty. His amazing, unprecedented collection of animals, plants and insects from all around the world gained international fame during his lifetime. In 1731, after decades of collecting, Seba commissioned illustrations of each and every specimen and arranged the publication of a four-volume catalog detailing his entire collectionfrom strange and exotic plants to snakes, frogs, crocodiles, shellfish, corals, insects, butterflies and more, as well as fantastic beasts, such as a hydra and a dragon. Sebas scenic illustrations, often mixing plants and animals in a single plate, were unusual even for the time. Many of the stranger and more peculiar creatures from Sebas collection, some of which are now extinct, were as curious to those in Sebas day as they are to us now.
This reproduction is taken from a rare, hand-colored original. The introduction offers background information about the fascinating tradition of the cabinet of curiosities to which Sebas curiosities belonged.
Beautiful book - great decorator item! ^ This is one of the best conversation pieces you can get - the illustrations are wonderful and keep both kids and adults interested for hours!
pared down but fabulous ^ i own the outrageously gorgeous jumbo version of this book, so it's hard to be as impressed by this smaller version. even so, it is impressive on its, with lots of full page color plates.
if you want frame-worthy prints, the larger Albertus Seba's Cabinet of Natural Curiosities (Jumbo) version is far superior. but this edition is a great reference book.
Yep, it's amazing ^ I still can't believe this is only 40 some dollars. They couldn't have even printed this book for that, could they have? It's really big and really beautiful. Such a lot of drawings it's overwhelming, printed in great quality and color on all those pages and pages. Wonderful shapes, wonderful creatures, wonderful designs. Very inspiring and interesting. Just makes me want to stop what I'm doing and devote myself to drawing things and making some cool book like this before I'm dust.
absolutely beautiful! ^ The illustrations in this book are so vivid and detailed, it even makes snakes look beautiful to me! I wish there were more books that were made this way.
Extraordinary Value ^ Cabinet of Natural Curiosities: The Complete Plates in Colour, 1734-1765 At a time when unimportant volumes by hack authors sell for around $30 it is extraordinary to find a book this beautiful, this timeless at a price less than an average bottle of Chardonnay. Makes one rethink any list they might have made of books to take to a deserted island.
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