Natuurkundige beschryving der zeën.The Hague, De Compagnie, 1786. Folio. With an engraved frontispiece by Matthijs Pool, 12 mostly folding maps, profiles of coast-lines and tables, and 40 full-page engraved plates with numerous illustrations of sea plants and corals, all beautifully coloured by hand. Contemporary half calf, gold-tooled spine.

XXVI, 216 pp.First edition of the Dutch translation, beautifully illustrated and hand-coloured, of a popular description of plants and corals of the sea by Luigi Ferdinando Conte de Marsigli (1658-1730), a celebrated Italian geographer and natural scientist. First published at Bologna in 1700, it was the first work to describe what the author himself called "coral-flowers". He minutely and very correctly described and designed them, but he drew the wrong conclusions, seeing them as plants in stead of plant-animals. But even when this was corrected by later scientists like Jussieu and Ellis, Marsigli's book continued to be published for its beautiful plates, and its accurate descriptions. In the present edition the publisher asks his readers just to substitute the word plant for animal.In very good condition, with virtually untrimmed edges. Binding worn along the extremities and sides slightly damaged.l Bibl. Natura Artis Magistra 1390; Nissen, ZBI, 2700; Poggendorff II, col. 59.