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Pineapple Plant, the first plate of the set
The first plate of the set, Pineapple Plant.

Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, complete set

By Maria Sibylla Merian, 1719

All 72 plates of Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium as facsimile giclées at the size of the original sheet, kept in a Solander box the way a library keeps the original.

  • 72 plates, each at the size of the original sheet
  • A title page and a contents page with the titles of all plates
  • A Solander box in linen with gold lettering, in the colour and lettering you choose
  • A certificate of authenticity

Limited to 50 sets, each numbered and embossed.

Price on request

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The plates are also sold one by one, from $185.

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Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium

Contents

Maria Sibylla Merian, 1719

  1. 1Pineapple Plant
  2. 2Pineapple
  3. 3Soursop
  4. 4Jatropha Moth, Lizzard & Manioc
  5. 5Snake and Moth
  6. 6Thistle
  7. 7Morpho Achilles & Cherries
  8. 8Red Jasmine Tree, Plumeria Rubra
  9. 9Morpho Menelaus & Pomegranate
  10. 10Cotton Plant
  11. 11Coral Tree with Emperor Moth
  12. 12Banana
  13. 13Yellow Mombin Plum Tree & Blue Moth
  14. 14Soursop with Owlet Moth
  15. 15Watermelon
  16. 16Cashew
  17. 17Lemon
  18. 18Tarantula & Weaver Ants in Guava Tree
  19. 19Guava
  20. 20Great Owlet Mas
  21. 21Passion Fruit
  22. 22Red Amaryllis
  23. 23Lizard & Banana
  24. 24Large Horned Beetle
  25. 25Vanilla Plant
  26. 26Cocoa Plant
  27. 27Mantids
  28. 28Harlequin Beetle
  29. 29Grapefruit
  30. 30Racinis Butterfly & Greater Sacktail Castor Oil Plant
  31. 31Cotton Rose
  32. 32Black Currant with Butterfly
  33. 33Fig
  34. 34Purple Grapes
  35. 35Painted Lady
  36. 36Tobacco Plant with Butterfly
  37. 37Hibiscus Indian Sorrel
  38. 38Cotton Leaf Jatropha & Mimicry Moth
  39. 39Emperor Moth
  40. 40Papaya (3)
  41. 41Sweet Potato
  42. 42Hibiscus
  43. 43Swallow-tailed Butterfly & Passion Flower
  44. 44Pink Flowered Rocu
  45. 45Orange Flowers
  46. 46Snake & Jasmine
  47. 47Green Grapes
  48. 48Tabrouba Tree with Stag Capricorn & Herculo Beetles
  49. 49Lantren Fly with Pomegranate Flower
  50. 50Large Horned Beetle with Potato
  51. 51Sweet Bean
  52. 52Orange
  53. 53Pearly-eyed Butterfly with Nut
  54. 54Red Ginger Plant with Bee
  55. 55Pepper Plant Capsicum
  56. 56Water Scorpion, Giant Water Beetle and Frogs
  57. 57Wooly-haired Megalopygio Caterpillar
  58. 58Pearly-eyed Butterfly and Flies
  59. 59Female Toad and Young with Watercress
  60. 60Caligo Butterfly Wasp and Acanthacae
  61. 61Sweet White Guava
  62. 62Papaya
  63. 63Cocoa
  64. 64Papaya
  65. 65Lemon
  66. 66Opossums with Young & Praying Mantis
  67. 67Fig
  68. 68Heather Butterfly & Metamorphic Study
  69. 69Caiman
  70. 70Lizard
  71. 71Frog metamorphic stages
  72. 72Stag Beetle, Palm Tree

The contents page in the box lists every plate. Each title opens the single print.

About the original

Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717) sailed to Suriname in 1699 with her daughter Dorothea Maria and studied its insects for two years. Back in the Netherlands she published Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium in 1705: hand-coloured copper engravings showing each caterpillar and butterfly or moth with the plant it feeds on.

After her death Dorothea sold the plates to the Amsterdam publisher Joannes Oosterwijk, who issued a second edition in 1719 with new plates. This series follows that edition, with all 72 plates.

Title
Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium
Published
1719
Original in
Teylers Museum, Haarlem
Plates
72

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