Johann Elias Ridinger (Ulm 1698 – Augsburg 1767). (Monkeys or Animals yet related to them.) Suite of 10 plates. Etchings with engraving after copies at third-hand (i. a. after the London physician Sir Hans Sloane, 1660-1753) and drawings by himself. 12½-12⅝ × 8¼-8½ in (31.6-32.2 × 21.1-21.7 cm).

Thienemann + Schwarz 541-550; Niemeyer, Ridinger Erlebnisse 1698-2020, 2021, pp. 95 f. with ill. & 178 f.; Weigel 28 A/B; Silesian Ridinger collection at Boerner XXXIX, 1896 ( “Rare”, 1885 ! ); Coppenrath II, 1555 ( Rare, 1889! ); Reich auf Biehla 136; Gg. Hamminger 1667 ( “Rare sheets”, but only four of these!, 1895! ); Helbing XXXIV, 1155; Schwerdt III, 141, f.; Alexander Count of Faber-Castell 58 ( only 7!, one trimmed to platemark, 1958 ); Ridinger Catalogue Darmstadt, 1999, III.14-III.16 with two ills.

A Monkey with Three Claws (Sloth) – Wood Devil (Mandrill) – A Masked Monkey from Guinea (Baboon) – Green Monkey with Long Tail (Guenon) – Barbate Long-tailed or Green Monkey (Guenon) – Satÿr Big Monkey – Greenish Long-tailed Monkey (Guenon) – Lion Long-tailed Monkey (Guenon) – Füchsel manigen (Cheirogaleidae) – Common Monkey.

With gilt head edge suggesting the once belonging to an unmounted album, quality of impression and preservation are almost best, with 17⅛ × 11⅜ in (43.5 × 29 cm) the sheet size goes beyond that of the Earl of Fife with Schwerdt with just 16⅜ × 11 in (41.5 × 28 cm). Thus 3.5-4 cm laterally, 3-5 above + 7-8 below. Only plate 1 with two longer backed margin tears, the upper one of which touching the white platemark, and slightly age-smudgy especially in the lower margin. Otherwise generally in the outmost lower margin and in the right lower corner slightly finger-stained. The heading of the 4^th plate “CEBVS” inclusive of, partly, lateral and top edge a little weak in print. Small brown spot in the branchwork of the 6^th plate.

The set – etched after supposedly Jakob Jele (southern Germany 2^nd h. of the 16^th century), Karl Wilhelm de Hamilton (Brussels 1668 – Augsburg 1754), Lazarus Röting (1549-1614), Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753), London, as well as after own design – belongs to the rarest of the master’s.

Offer no. 28,937 | price on application