Hamburg, 14 March 2007, (kk) - All the birds are in it, all the birds, all ... Even the Oriole’s nest (Plate 31), that is usually not shown, is included in the first edition with beautiful period colouring. Carrying an estimate of € 50,000, the ornithological life’s work of Johann Leonhard Frisch, director of a Berlin higher secondary school and a naturalist, is to go under the hammer at Ketterer Kunst on 19/20 May. "I am really delighted to be able to sell at auction one of the most magnificent German bird books, that was unsurpassed for a long time," thus Robert Ketterer, auctioneer and owner of Ketterer Kunst.

Dog, cat, mouse and everything else are included in the 36 volumes of the "Bilderbuch für Kinder" ["Picture Book for Children"] by Friedrich Johann Justin Bertuch. His introductory words: "A p i c t u r e b o o k is a piece of furniture as essential for and indispensable to the nursery as the cradle ..." ensured that no nursery is now complete without picture books and the term has become standard usage in both German and English. The estimate for this complete first edition with the extensive and extremely rare commentary by Carl Philipp Funke is € 16,000 and is sure to make not just collectors of children’s books cast a quick look at their finances.

PANtastic is also the word to describe a complete set of 10 volumes of that celebrated and sumptuously presented art and literary magazine of 1895-1900. What is so special about this lot, which carries an estimate of € 24,000: alongside original prints by such greats as Käthe Kollwitz, Max Liebermann and Auguste Rodin et al, it also includes the Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec colour lithograph of "Mademoiselle Marcelle Lender", which is so often missing from the set.

Not just useful at all hours is the Latin Book of Hours of Philippe Pigouchet, which is written on vellum. With its decorative metal-cut borders, this extremely rare and superlatively illumined incunabulum published in Paris in 1498 is definitely a highlight of the auction. The estimate is € 20,000.

With Johann Elert Bode, you can bring down the stars from the sky: for € 15,000 more than 17,000 stars are within your grasp. Practically bound in two book-covers, the Sternenatlas [Star Atlas] called "Uronographia" by the self-taught Hamburg astronomer is another treat awaiting you at this auction.

Big world, small world: with the last German-language edition of the celebrated Atlas Minor of J. Janssonius and Gerhard Mercator, "a brief yet through description of the whole world" is to be called at € 12,000.

Pre-sale viewings have been scheduled at 1 Meßberg, Hamburg, for the following dates and times:
7-9 May from 11 am-5 pm
13-16 May from 11 am-5 pm
18 Mayby appointment

The auction of Rare Books - Manuscripts - Autographs - Decorative Prints is scheduled for the following dates and times, also at 1 Meßberg, Hamburg:
main auction: 19/20 May: both at 10 am
evening auction: 19 May at 6 pm