El Orinoco Ilustrado, Historia Natural, Civil, Y Geographica, De Este Gran Rio

Joseph Gumilla

En Madrid : Por Manuel Fernandez, 1741.

Bound in contemporary vellum. Hand written title in brown ink. Small quarto. [38], 580, [19] p., map, 2 pl. 22 cm. Good binding. Ruffling and aging to vellum. Map with some loss and repairs to tears. Repaired tear to pgs 379-82. Pages tanned. Dampstain to first few pages. Owners blindstamp of Leopold Richter to bottom margins of preface pages. Owners name to pg 33.

Refs: Alden & Landis 745/100; De Backer-Sommervogel III, 1949; Leclerc 1471; Medina, Biblioteca Hispano-Americana, 3376; Palau 111192 (gives the Jesuit José Casani as editor); Sabin 29274; Wellcome III, 181.

Father Gumilla was far ahead of his time in his landmark work on the Orinoco. His notes on the Natural History of the Orinoco served long as necessary reference for all scientists interested in the nature of the intertropical zone , including, obviously, to Alejandro de Humboldt and many other nineteenth-century travelers, especially his investigation on the fauna and flora of the Orinoco, maps and drawings included in his works.

Leopoldo Richter immigrated from German to Columbia, where he become a ceramist, entomologist and an important artist of Colombia in the 20th Century.