Bound together, first editions of both parts of the 1679-83 edition of Maria Sybilla Merian’s study of caterpillars and their transformation into butterflies, Der Raupen…, sold to a Danish bidder for €42,000 (£32,060) in a May 28 sale held by Ketterer Kunst (23% buyer’s premium) of Hamburg.
The price – seemingly a record – was four times what had been predicted for this scarce work, though in 2003 a vellum bound copy in which a few of the plates were partially coloured did sell for $28,000 at Christie’s New York.