Manhattan Rare Book Company

FIRST EDITION IN ORIGINAL PARTS OF HAECKEL’S BEAUTIFUL AND HIGHLY INFLUENTIAL COLLECTION OF “ART FORMS IN NATURE”, COMPLETE WITH 100 STUNNNING FOLIO PLATES, MOST COLORED.

THE EXCEPTIONALLY RARE FIRST ISSUE IN ORIGINAL PARTS, ORIGINAL WRAPPERS, AND ORIGINAL BOXES. A MAGNIFICENT SET.

“The geometric shapes and natural forms, captured with exceptional precision in Ernst Haeckel’s prints, still influence artists and designers to this day [...] Powerful modern microscopes have confirmed the accuracy of Haeckel’s prints, which even in their day, became world famous. Haeckel’s portfolio, first published between 1899 and 1904 in separate installments... illustrate Haeckel’s fundamental monistic notion of the ‘unity of all living things’ and the wide variety of forms are executed with utmost delicacy. Incipient microscopic organisms are juxtaposed with highly developed plants and animals. The pages, ordered according to geometric and ‘constructive’ aspects, document the oneness of the world in its most diversified forms. This collection of plates was not only well-received by scientists, but by artists and architects as well. Rene Binet, a pioneer of glass and iron constructions, Emile Galle, a renowned Art Nouveau designer, and the photographer Karl Blossfeld all make explicit reference to Haeckel in their work.” (Haeckel, Art Forms in Nature, 1998).

HAECKEL, ERNST. Kunstformen der Natur. Leipzig and Vienna: Verlag des Bibliographischen Instituts, [1899–]1904. First edition, first printing. Folio (10.5 x 14 in), two volumes, original uniform pictorial green cloth over wooden boxes with red edges and off-white silk ribbon, 10 original printed Jugendstil [Art Nouveau] wrappers containing 100 prints, many colored or tinted; with additional Supplement in original wrappers, unopened.

Text and plates in fine condition, some wear to boxes, namely to upper board of volume 1, and wear to wrapper spines. A rare survival of Ernst's masterpiece, with all 100 plates in vivid detail.

References:

Haeckel, Ernst, Art Forms in Nature: The Prints of Ernst Haeckel, ed. by Olaf Breidbach and Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt (Munich: Prestel, 1998).

Price: $9,500 .