Dissertatio de generatione et metamorphosibus insectorum Surinamensium : in quâ, praeter vermes & erucas surinamenses, earumque admirandam metamorphosin, plantae, flores & fructus, quibus vescuntur, & in quibus fuerunt inventae, exhibentur ... Accedit appendix transformationum piscium in ranas, & ranarum in pisces

Title Variants

Alternative: De generatione et metamorphosibus insectorum Surinamensium
Alternative: Insects de Surinam
Alternative: Mariae Sibillae Merian Dissertatio de generatione et metamorphosibus insectorum Surinamensium
Alternative: Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium
Alternative: Recueil des plantes des Indes par M.S. Merian
Uniform: Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium

By

Merian, Maria Sibylla, 1647-1717

Rousset de Missy, Jean, 1686-1762 , translator
Commelin, Caspar, 1667?-1731
Mulder, Joseph, 1659 or 1660- , engraver
Sluiter, Pieter, 1675-approximately 1713 , engraver
Huquier, Gabriel, 1695-1772 , engraver
Oosterwyk, Johannes, active 1700-1737 , bookseller,

Type

Book

Material

Published material

Publication info

Amstelaedami, Apud Joannem Oosterwyk, 1719

Notes

Text in Latin; "Expication des Noms et Couleurs des Plantes de Surinam Par Melle. Merian" in French; some text in Dutch.

"Maria S. Merian was the daughter of the successful German engraver-publisher Matthäus Merian and pupil of the artist Jacob Marrel. From early age she developed an interest in the metamorphosis of insects. After a separation from her husband, she and her two daughters moved in 1686 to the Netherlands. There she made the personal acquaintance of serious collectors, owners of natural historical cabinets ('Kunst- und Wunderkammer'). After having seen specimens of insects from Dutch Guyana, she wanted to study these insects in their natural environment. With the financial support from directors of the Dutch West Indian Company, she and her daughters sailed off to Surinam, where they stayed from 1699 until 1701. All of Merian's works were published and sold by herself, issued part by part, in small editions, each with a different title, in coloured and uncoloured versions, over an extended period of time."--Sanderus Antiquariaat website ; https://www.sanderusmaps.com/en/our-catalogue/detail/166839/merian-ms-insectes-de-surinam-1726-insectes-de-l'europe-1730/ (viewed August 12, 2019).

"Merian had drawn and studied insects at length during her youth in Germany. Inspired by the number and variety of tropical species being brought back by the Dutch, she decided to visit the colony of Surinam to study and record the indigenous insect life there. In her introduction to the Metamorphosis, she wrote that her real interest was in the “origins and development” of insects. She sailed from Amsterdam to Surinam with her daughter Dorothea in 1699, and remained there until 1701. Merian’s work offers an insight into the exotic insect life of tropical South America, with lizards and snakes, colorful butterflies flying around flowering or fruiting plants, and huge caterpillars moving across the leaves. Some plates depict more than one. She successfully portrays on a large format a glimpse into the natural world that she experienced in Surinam. Naturalists purchased the Surinam book because Merian's paintings included a number of plants and insects that had not previously been seen or described in Europe. This book was ground-breaking in many ways and had an enormous impact on European perception of the tropical New World, the life cycles of insects, and the manner in which natural history subjects could be illustrated to indicate their natural context."--Dumbarton Oaks Research Library & Collection website ; https://www.doaks.org/resources/online-exhibits/maria-sibylla-merian/dissertatio-de-generatione-et-metamorphosibus-insectorum-surinamensium (viewed August 12, 2019).

"The Metamorphosis resulted from Merian's trip, after her mother's death, with her daughter Dorothea to Surinam in 1699. The two women spent two years studying and recording plants and insects, returning to Amsterdam, after contracting malaria, with a series of finished drawings on vellum, sketches, and specimens, from which they continued to work. The first edition of their labours appeared in 1705 in Latin. Later editions contain 12 additional plates by Merian's older daughter Johanna. S. Peter Dance in "The Art of Natural History" (1978), refers to this series as "easily the most magnificent work on insects so far produced... combining science and art in equal proportions...."--Google.com ; https://books.google.com/books/about/Dissertatio_de_generatione_et_metamorpho.html?id=_XOajgEACAAJ (viewed August 12, 2019).

Published also in editions. with text in Latin and French, Latin and Dutch, and Dutch alone.

Published also with other titles: Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium; Dissertation sur la ge´ne´ration et les transformations des insects de Surinam; M.S. Meriaen over de voortteeling en wonderbaerlyke veranderingen der Surinaemsche insecten.

French translation by Jean Rousset de Missy.

Added title page engraved and colored.

Title vignette.

Plates numbered 1-72.

Notes on the plants contributed by Caspar Commelin.

Some plates signed by J. Mulder or P. Sluyter; added title page: Paris chez Hurquier at leaf bottom left and Vis-a`vis le grande Chatele^t at leaf bottom right.

Originally published: Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium. Amsterdam : Voor den auteur, als ook by G. Valck, 1705. Text in Latin and Dutch.

Subjects

Botany , Early works , Early works to 1800 , Insects , Metamorphosis , Pictorial works , Suriname , Zoology

Call Number

QL481.S8 M56 1719

Language

Latin

Identifiers

OCLC: 437719443