Antique Print-MELILOT-BOGBEAN-MERIDIAN-SPIGNEL-MOSS-MEDLAR-Buys-1770

Price: € 44,50

Subject: Rare original print, plate CLXX, captioned: '1. Melilotus (melilot, sweet-clover). 2. Melissa (flowering plant). 3. Menyanthes (bogbean, buckbean). 4. Meridiaan (representation of the meridian). 5. Mespilus (medlar). 6. Meum (Spignel). 7. Mnium (moss). ' Illustration sheet from a Dutch encyclopedia/dictionary.

Condition: Very good, given age. Occasionally browned from age, one edge (left or right) uneven from binding. General age-related toning and/or occasional minor defects from handling. Please study scan carefully.

Medium: Copperplate engraving and etching on hand laid (verge) paper. Watermark not visible in every sheet.

Size (in cm): The overall size is ca. 12.5 x 21.5 cm. The image size is ca. 10.5 x 17 cm.

Size (in inch): The overall size is ca. 4.9 x 8.5 inch. The image size is ca. 4.1 x 6.7 inch.

Part Number: 46989

Location: C276-32

Description: This rare engraving originates from 'Nieuw en Volkomen Woordenboek van Konsten en Weetenschappen ...', published by S.J. Baalde, Amsterdam, 1770. This is in fact an early Dutch encyclopaedia.

Artists and Engravers: The author of this work is Egbert Buys. Egbert Buys (ca. 1725-1769) started his career as the author of Den Algemeene Spectator. After having been accused of maltreatment of his wife and having caused several scandals, he left for England where he stayed for more than five years. Returned in Amsterdam he published a much enlarged re-edition of the famous English-Dutch dictionary of Sewel in 1766. He continued his work with the publication of a New and complete dictionary of terms of art; Nieuw en volkomen konstwoordenboek in 2 vols. (Amsterdam, 1768), followed in the next year by the first volume of our encyclopedia, which was to be completed with the 10th vol. in 1778. Apart from its importance as a typical 18th-century encyclopedia in the spirit of Diderot's Encyclopedie , the work is still valued for its lexicographical and linguistic contents. In Japan the encyclopedia became also one of the most used Rangaku books. Engraver: C.J. de Huyser.