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Cover Legend: Albertus Seba (1665-1736), Cabinet of Natural Curiosities: Thesaurus, Amsterdam, 1734-65: Volume II, Plate 58. Reflecting the Enlightenment interest in exploring and categorizing the natural world, Augustus Seba amassed one of the most comprehensive collections of "natural curiosities" of the early 18th century. He commissioned a fourvolume catalogue of 449 copperplate engravings and text based on his holdings, a publication that remains one of the most prized natural history books of all time. The three snakes in Plate 58, from Asia, Guadeloupe, and Japan, were hand-colored by J. Fortuyn, a Hague artist, who highlighted the coloration both for aesthetic effect and to depict skin patterning with greater clarity. Seba's apothecary shop in Amsterdam attracted an elite clientele, including Peter the Great who, in 1717, purchased 72 drawers of shells, 1000 specimens of insects, and 400 jars of preserved animals for a "cabinet of curiosities" he was assembling in Russia. Scientists also consulted Seba's collection as well as the botanical garden (Hortus Botanicus) he helped to found: Carolus Linneaeus cited Seba's thesaurus 284 times in his Systema Naturae (1735-58.) For his achievements and influence, Seba, with no formal academic diploma to his name, was elected a fellow of the Royal Society, a member of the Bologna Academy, and of the Leopoldina. (Image: copyright Koninklijke Bibliotheek, The Hague, The Netherlands; legend by Ann Weissmann, Curator, MBLWHO Library, www.mblwhoilibrary.org)