Nürnberg, Frauenholz, [1792]-1793-1795. Five plates. Oblong (19.5 x 22.5 cm), and near square (22.0 x 19.0 cm). Engraved and finely coloured by hand, one with handwritten captions. On loose sheets; versos blank.

Five fine proof plates, engraved and hand-coloured, most probably by the German naturalist, engraver, and publisher Jakob, or Jacob, Sturm (1771-1841). These plates were meant for a very rare work, written by the German agronomist and mineralogist Christian Carl Andre (1763-1831) (see Poggendorf), and the entomologist Johann Matthäus, or Matthias, Bechstein (1757-1822), known as a specialist in noxious forest insects and other agricultural pests, and an acquaintance of Jacob Sturm. The work was edited and published by Johann Friedrich Frauenholz (1758-1822). Only six parts were published, with, in total, 36 text pages, 23 engraved plates in double suite - coloured and uncoloured - and a colour table. The proof plates we have are dealing with insects, viz., Plates 8 (proof plate not numbered), 16, 17, and 21, or botanical (Plate 13). Included are beetles, dragonflies, flies, wasps, butterflies, and caterpillars. Sturm named and exactly dated the insects in the engraved (Proof Plates 16 and 17) or handwritten (Proof Plate 21) captions. The handwriting much resembles that of a letter written by Sturm. Most illustrations were drawn in 1790, one in 1792. It is interesting to note that this publication was issued simultaneously with Friedrich Johann Bertuch's less well-illustrated but far more successful Bilderbuch für Kinder enthaltend eine angenehme Sammlung von Thieren, Pflanzen, Blumen, Früchten, Mineralien, Trachten und allerhand andern unterrichtenden Gegenständen aus dem Reiche der Natur, der Künste und Wissenschaften (published between 1792 and 1830), another publication aimed at children, but actually with text and illustrations equally - if not more - suitable to a broader, and more educated public. The only complete copy of Frauenholz's work that we know of is in the Universitätsbibliothek in Erfurt. The copy in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek München contains only uncoloured plates. A third complete copy may be in Coburg. OCLC reports no copies outside Germany. A few small, colour smudges, as can be expected from proof plates; paper a bit toned and soiled, otherwise very good. Poggendorf I, p. 44. Neither in Cat. BM(NH), nor in Nissen ZBI, nor in any other major bibliography.