This lot includes the frontispiece and title page for the first volume of Johann David Zunner's French edition of Allain Manesson Mallet's Description de l'Univers. Mallet originally published his five-voume series of the world in French in 1683. The books were so popular that they were translated into German and re-issued by Zunners the following year. New plates were engraved for Zunner's edition, but were based closely on the original plates. For the French edition in 1685, Zunner used the German plate of the frontispiece, and simply pasted the French title over the German one.

The frontispiece, engraved by Johann J. Vogel, depicts Hercules on the left and Neptune on the right standing before columns. Between them is the heavenly chariot of Eternity drawn by a pair of lions. Above them sit the personifications of Day and Night, flanked by an armillary sphere on the left and a terrestrial globe on the right. The accompanying title page is printed in both red and black ink.

References:

Condition: B+

Some damp stains and tears in margins.