Thomas Martyin - Aranei or A Natural History of Spiders - 1793

A beautifully illustrated and hand-colored work on spiders by Thomas Martyn (not to be confused with the botanist of the same name). Little is known of Martyn, but on the title-page he states that he operates an 'Academy for the Illustrating and Painting of Natural History'. The present work is the combination of two works on spiders by the authors Albin and Clerck mentioned in the title. In the preface, Martyn states that he was able to acquire the original drawings of Albin at a sale at the Duchess Dowager of Portland's Museum. The book often comes with the plates hand-colored, but the copy offered here appears unique in that the coloring was done by Martyn himself, as indicated in a pencil note on the fly-leaf which states: "Select Copy col'd by the Author". A similar note is found at the bottom of the first plate. As with many of Martyn's works, copies vary in their make-up, with some copies of the work recording 2 numismatic plates and a frontispiece which are not present here. Folio (36 x 29.5cm), ii, vii, 70pp., ii, 31pp. 2 parts in 1 volume. 2 engraved titles, 28 stippled engraved plates, hand-colored by author. Some foxing to title-pages with occasional slight instances to plates and text. Bound in near-contemporary half morocco over marbled boards, some cracking to joints, rubbed, book-plate to front endpaper. [Nissen ZBI 2724]