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Albertus Seba

Published Amsterdam 1734 - 1765

Seba published the first volume of his Thesaurus 
in 1734, and the second in 1735. The next two 
volumes were planned for publication shortly 
afterwards, but Seba died in 1736, and clearing 
up his estate delayed publication of volumes three 
and four until 1758 and 1765. By the time the last 
two volumes were published, Seba's work drew 
some criticism, largely because it didn't reflect 
the new Linnaean system. Many critics overlooked 
the fact that the Linnaean system was only 
published in 1735, just a year before Seba's death.

Seba's Thesaurus was a beautiful publication, in 
a large part because the boundary between art 
and science was still pretty fuzzy. Animals posed 
artfully, and shells were arranged in decorative 
patterns. Some of the work was fanciful or even 
folly, such as the many electric-blue snakes and 
the seven-headed hydra, yet much of it exhibited 
an almost unprecedented attention to detail and 
accuracy.
     

plates size 13" by 19.5"

10 plates available