Group of Seven Thomas Martin Shell Engravings
1784 London
First Edition
Each: 11 1/4" x 13 3/4"
Provenance: Alan Mann, London
The Universal Conchologist exhibiting the figure of every known Shell, accurately drawn and painted after Nature with A New Systematic Arrangement. London: Thomas Martyn, 1784.
One of "the most beautiful of all shell books, containing exquisite renderings of shells collected on Cook's three voyages and on other voyages, with specimens identified as having been obtained from New Holland, New Zealand, Tahiti, Tonga, and the Hawaiian Islands" (Forbes).
"When the 'Resolution and the Discovery' returned from the third and last voyage in 1780, Humphrey purchased some more shells, but the bulk of the conchological spoils went this time to Thomas Martyn, a knowledgeable dealer, versatile writer and gifted artist ... Unlike Humphrey and other dealers who snapped up the Cook shells Thomas Martyn had more than a pecuniary interest in his purchases. Martyn's reason for wanting to corner the market in South Seas shells was entirely praiseworthy; although he sold many of the shells he had bought, he illustrated the finest in 'The Universal Conchologist,' his magnum opus [and] a work which, for beauty, has seldom been surpassed in the history of conchological iconography" (Dance).
80 plates were in the complete set and individual ones are quite rare.
1784 London
First Edition
Each: 11 1/4" x 13 3/4"
Provenance: Alan Mann, London
The Universal Conchologist exhibiting the figure of every known Shell, accurately drawn and painted after Nature with A New Systematic Arrangement. London: Thomas Martyn, 1784.
One of "the most beautiful of all shell books, containing exquisite renderings of shells collected on Cook's three voyages and on other voyages, with specimens identified as having been obtained from New Holland, New Zealand, Tahiti, Tonga, and the Hawaiian Islands" (Forbes).
"When the 'Resolution and the Discovery' returned from the third and last voyage in 1780, Humphrey purchased some more shells, but the bulk of the conchological spoils went this time to Thomas Martyn, a knowledgeable dealer, versatile writer and gifted artist ... Unlike Humphrey and other dealers who snapped up the Cook shells Thomas Martyn had more than a pecuniary interest in his purchases. Martyn's reason for wanting to corner the market in South Seas shells was entirely praiseworthy; although he sold many of the shells he had bought, he illustrated the finest in 'The Universal Conchologist,' his magnum opus [and] a work which, for beauty, has seldom been surpassed in the history of conchological iconography" (Dance).
80 plates were in the complete set and individual ones are quite rare.
1784 London
First Edition
Each: 11 1/4" x 13 3/4"
Provenance: Alan Mann, London
The Universal Conchologist exhibiting the figure of every known Shell, accurately drawn and painted after Nature with A New Systematic Arrangement. London: Thomas Martyn, 1784.
One of "the most beautiful of all shell books, containing exquisite renderings of shells collected on Cook's three voyages and on other voyages, with specimens identified as having been obtained from New Holland, New Zealand, Tahiti, Tonga, and the Hawaiian Islands" (Forbes).
"When the 'Resolution and the Discovery' returned from the third and last voyage in 1780, Humphrey purchased some more shells, but the bulk of the conchological spoils went this time to Thomas Martyn, a knowledgeable dealer, versatile writer and gifted artist ... Unlike Humphrey and other dealers who snapped up the Cook shells Thomas Martyn had more than a pecuniary interest in his purchases. Martyn's reason for wanting to corner the market in South Seas shells was entirely praiseworthy; although he sold many of the shells he had bought, he illustrated the finest in 'The Universal Conchologist,' his magnum opus [and] a work which, for beauty, has seldom been surpassed in the history of conchological iconography" (Dance).
80 plates were in the complete set and individual ones are quite rare.