Rariora Musei Besleriani quae olim Basilius et Michael Rupertus Besleri collegerunt, aenesique tabulis ad vivum incisa evulgarunt: nunc commentariolo illustrata a Johanne Henrico Lochnero

Nuremberg: (No printer), 1716. FIRST EDITION. Hardcover. Fine. Bound in 18th century mottled calf (some surface wear, joints starting.) Text with intermittent browning as often but not affecting the plates, which are printed on heavier paper; portrait plate very slightly trimmed at edges. From the library of the Earls of Macclesfield. The 'Rariora Musei Besleriani' [Rarities of the Besler Museum] is the most complete description of the natural history museum of the apothecary and botanist Basilius Belser (1561-1629) and his nephew Michael Rupert (1607-1661). It is also the first descriptive commentary of the collection. The Besler collection had been partly illustrated in the elder Besler's own "Fasciculus" of 1616, and his nephew's "Gazophylacium" of 1642. However, both of these publications consisted of plates only.

The Besler collection included a wide variety of animals from around the world, including snakes, a crocodile, an armadillo, a chameleon, and a bird-of-paradise; fruits, spices and nuts from Brazil and Mauritius; shells and coral and a fine mineral and fossil section with ammonites, bezoars, 'tongue stones' (i.e. fossil sharks' teeth). There were also ethnological items such as a Brazilian Indian girdle made from nuts of the Brazilian tree Cerbera ahovai.

"[The 1716 "Rariora" was the] last published description of the Beslers' remarkable 'Wunderkammer'. Written by Johann Henrich Lochner, it was published after his death as a lasting tribute by his father, the botanist and physician Michael Friedrich. This beautifully illustrated work describes various objects of natural history contained in the collection started by Basilius Besler and continued by his nephew, Michael Rupert. The text presents descriptions of the objects pictured on the accompanying plates. These illustrate fruits, roots & berries, birds, lizards, salamanders, alligators, snakes, sharks, fish, turtles, octopus, crabs, shells, starfish, sponges, corals, fossil shells, stones, fossil plants and fossil shark teeth. 24 of the 40 plates were originally published in Michael Rupert Belser's 'Gazophylacium Rerum Naturalium' (1642). The other 16 plates are new to this edition."(Schuh).