The omnipresent Ridinger –
here though escaped from the knowledge of his revisors
(Mellin, August Wilhelm Graf von.) (Attempt of an Instruction for the Planning, Improvement, and Use of the Hunting Grounds both in the open as in Preserves.) In German. With 2 woodcut vignettes and
118 engravings
incl. frontispiece, title vignette + dedication-coat-of-arms engraving. Berlin and Stettin, Joachim Pauli, 1779. 4to. XXI, 1 (errata), 356 pp. Contemporary dark green marbled boards with empty library back plate. Paled punctured edges.
Holzmann-Bohatta IV, 9279; Lindner 11.1427.01; Schwerdt II, 22 (“a beautiful and scarce book”); Nagler, Monogramists, II, 430 + 457, + V, 1598; Thieme-Becker XXIV, 366; Lipperheide Tf 19; Cat. of the Collection of Ornamental Engravings Berlin 3354. – Not in Souhart. – Dedicated to the “real Privy= State= War= and directing minister Baron von der Schulenburg” (Lewin Rudolf v. d. Sch.?, Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie XXXII, 667).
Name on title. – Binding especially at the lower edges and corners as at the joints rubbed and nudged resp. Contents (pp. IX-XXI) and to the end acceptably brown and foxspotted resp., in-between two quires (8 sheets) evenly browned and some few pages with brown dirt spots. Otherwise only isolated foxspots and in its entirety a fine desirable copy.
The now plainly instructive, then most beautiful engravings of varying sizes up to (almost) full-page size overwhelmingly by Mellin after own design, partly worked “ad vivum”, but also after Jacques de Sève (about 1742 – after 1788) and Joseph Halfpenny (Bishopsthorpe 1748 – York 1811) as well as
at least 9 after Johann Elias Ridinger ,
among these the Chasseur aux levrieres Th. 124 from Hunters and Falconers (p. 316), the fugitive roe Th. 453 from Design of Several Animals (p. 164), several hounds from the same set (pp. 199, 295, 209, 215), the surrounded hunt Th. 22 from the Princes’ Hunting Pleasure (p. 268), the Boar Hunted in the open on the Ball Th. 66 (p. 301) as well as within a plate of antlers three after Th. 244, 247 and the third one of Th. 249, all from the Wondrous Stags (p. 142). Compared with the models partially in reverse and quite accordingly to the necessary reduction somewhat simplified in the representation.
Five engravings with the inscription “J. E. Ridinger del.”. Mellin’s “W. C. M. sculp.” figuring beside proving the active co-working of Ridinger, de Sève and Halfpenny still spread by Lipperheide, too, as an error by Nagler. Mellin, however, also claimed for himself the “del” for other engravings unmistakably worked after Ridinger. Beyond that a leaping boar should be copied from Johann Heinrich Tischbein II.
After introduction and general stuff on hunting grounds, organized in Preservation, Natural History of the noble Game and On the Hunt of these. In particular i. a. on stag, fallow-deer, roe and wild boar stock as well as its protection for one’s own chase, the planning, enclosure, setting-up and decoration as well as utilization of the game park in general as especially for roes, wild boars, hares and rabbits, protection of trees + shrubs against biting, the natural history of all these and finally the hunt of them with all its accessories and in all possible facets. And with the great eagle owl as closing vignette. In such a manner, however,
the extensive , wanted compendium for the huntsman ,
for the Ridinger collector , however , also a refreshing picture-puzzle .
Descending from an established Prussian family Mellin first attended the Brunswick Collegium Carolinum, a modern technical college and social educational establishment founded by duke Charles I (reigning 1735-1780), then the university in Halle. Besides his scientific and linguistic studies zoological drawings and paintings interested him increasingly. Returned to his estate of Damizow near Stettin he enriched it by a zoological garden and a pheasantry, was in frequent exchange with natural scientists like Buffon, Schreber and Bloch and for the rest rode his very own hobby-horse, the hunt.
Offer no. 13,215 / EUR 1994. / export price EUR 1894. (c. US$ 2630.) + shipping
„ heute kam das Paket – vielen Dank für die excellente Verpackung. Das Bild ist wirklich sehr schön … Wir freuen uns auf Ihre (weitere) Nachricht. Herzliche Grüße aus F. “
(Herr + Frau T. C., 13. Mai 2002)