Neues Bilderbuch zur Belehrung und Unterhaltung

Stuttgart: Carl Hoffmann, 1840. Hardcover. Very Good. An early example of a quintessential German color plate book created for a juvenile audience, pedagogical in nature, with wonderful color plates printed on thin, cheap paper, and published under various imprints in or around Stuttgart. Small folio, 37 by 24 cm. Title leaf, Vorwart leaf, with preface by Zoller, followed by 29 hand-colored plates, and world map (two hemisphere maps on this plate). Only this final plate is not in color. Each of the plates has many small vignette illustrations of animals and plants from all over the world, with generally the animal illustrations dominated the page. The animals are of all types -- sea and land, mammals, reptiles, insects, birds, fish. Curiously, the groupings aren't really organized by region! However, the composition of the plates is invariably pleasing. Occasionally the vignette illustration has some background providing a setting. Each plate accompanied by facing page explanation (Erklaerung). Printing on one side of each leaf -- versos for plates, rectos for explanations. Condition: re-cased, with original pictorial pastedown on boards preserved and pasted onto new boards, these pastedowns suffering minimal loss along edges. These pastedowns do have stains and soil, but remain more than acceptable in their appearance. New endpapers. Slight cocking of the binding -- front overhangs slightly rear. Scattered soiling of the leaves within. Never does this rise to a disconcerting level. Other typical, non-disturbing wear.