Cabinet of natural curiosities / Das Naturalienkabinett / Le cabinet des curiosités naturelles

Taschen, Köln, 2011. 1st edition thus. Pictorial hard covers. Fine/No Jacket. Reissue of the classic "Locupletissimi rerum naturalium thesauri accurata descriptio et iconibus artificiosissimis expressio (etc.) by the Dutch polymath and collector Albertus Seba (1665-1736), with interpretive chapters in English, German and French and with copious colour illustrations (some full-page, some four to the page) taken from the copy at the Royal Library in the Hague. Designed and printed to Taschen's highest standards. The surviving parts of the whole collection can still be seen in a museum dedicated to Cabinets of Curiosities in St. Petersburg, Russia, known as the Kunstkamera. It was Russia's first public museum, established in 1714 when Tsar Peter "the Great", having bought the collection, arranged for its transfer to his newly established capital city.