The first edition, which comprised just a dozen broadsheet pages on seven loose leaves, was privately printed in Leiden at the expense of Joannes Fridericus Gronovius and Isaac Lawson. They initially intended to print just a few copies for private circulation among friends, but “judging it might be agreeable to the Learned world”, also sent copies to the BM and the Royal Society. This copy, one of just three seen at auction in the last century, formerly in the De Belder library (but not in the 1987 sale), was sold at Christie’s New York in 1997 for $200,000, and this time reached $360,000 (£248,275) at the Freilich sale (Sotheby’s New York) on January 10 and 11.
Carolus Linnaeus’ Systema naturae...
Pictured here is the title page of one of the more important publications in the history of science – Carolus Linnaeus’ Systema naturae... of 1735, which laid the groundwork for the systematic classification of plants and animals.
