LEFT Albertus Seba Locpletissimi Rerum Naturalium Thesauri 1734 - 1765, narrative arrangements

MIDDLE G.W.Knorr, Les delices des Yeux...., a rather poetic title for a 6 volume set of books about the Shells in the Sea, Nurenburg 1760 - 1773.
 
RIGHT Franz Michael Regenfuss' classic study of shells, Auserlesne Schnecken, Muscheln und andre Schallthiere. .. published in Copenhagen in 1758. The engravings were handcoloured by Mrs.Regenfuss. A finely tuned balance of different sized and coloured objects on the page.

A SMALL SELECTION

CONCHOPHILIA, Shells, Art and Curiosity biblio

more Seba Shells

Margate Shell Grotto

SINGLE IMAGES

Buonanni, Ricreatione dell'ochio e delle mente nell'osservation della'Chiocciole Rome 1681m engraving by Venturini, supposedly one of the very first books on Molluscs, and at the heart of the dispute as to their capacity for spontaneous generation.

Albertus Seba Locpletissimi Rerum Naturalium Thesauri 1734 - 1765, another plate, another face

Carl Linnaeus, Systema Naturaer, Stockholm 1758/9

F.Bonnani, illustration to the catalogue of Athanasius Kircher's MUSAEUM KIRCHERIANUM Rome 1709

Thomas Martyn, The Universal Conchologist 1794/5