Bloomsbury Book Auctions
Lot 1
Leeuwenhoek (Antony van) [Werken], 18 works bound in 6 vol., 3 engraved additional titles (1 with repaired tear), portrait, 99 plates (only, of 100?), 38 folding, text-illustrations, 1 full-page, 3 titles and a few text-ff. & plates loose, occasional spotting and staining, a few early notes, 2 manuscript additions loosely inserted, contemporary vellum, little marked & rubbed, [Dobell, Antony van Leeuwenhoek and his "Little Animals", pp. 392-394; cf PMM 166], 4to, Leiden or Delft, 1684-1718. (6). *** Complete set of the original Dutch editions of van Leeuwenhoek's 165 'published' letters, all but one first editions. Van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723) 'became one of the most remarkable microscopists of all time ... made remarkable discoveries in the anatomy of man and the higher and lower forms of animal and plant life ... first fully described spermatozoa ... discovered infusoria and rotifera ... ' (PMM). He communicated his observations in letters mostly to the Royal Society in London, which he published in 2 series, numbered 28-146 and I-XLVI, issued in 18 works. In the present set, only letter 65 is not present as the first edition, published on its own in 1688 (Dobell 11), but as part of the first publication of letters 61-67 in 1689 (Dobell 12). This set also contains early manuscript copies of two supplementary items: Brief van G. Bidloo aan Antony van Leeuwenhoek, Delft, 1698, (Dobell p. 400, 'The Dutch edition is extremely rare') and Register Verstrekkende te gelijk voor een Korte Inhouid van alle de Werken vande Heer Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, Leiden, 1695, 2 parts, (Dobell p.399). Clifford Dobell's own set, later in the Honeyman Collection (sold at Sotheby's, 12th May 1980, lot 1958) apparently had 100 plates, but this perhaps includes the full-page text engraving.
![Adventures (The) of Doctor Comicus, or the Frolicks of Fortune, [William Combe imitation], additional hand-coloured aquatint](http://lot-images.atgmedia.com/SR/1574/694196/165-2-10057_468x382.jpg)
