Maria Sibylla Merian travelled in 1699 with her younger daughter to Suriname in northern South America, to study the flora and fauna. The resulting natural history plates were published in Amsterdam in 1705, at her own expense. This volume was acquired for the newly founded Royal Library during the reign of King William IV.

This is a rare counterproof edition of Merian’s Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, with the accompanying text in Latin. The plates were coloured by Merian and her daughters with care to replicate the colours of the insects depicted. Merian dedicated her publication ‘to all lovers and investigators of nature’. The volume is full leather bound with brown calf, heavily tooled with gold.