Antoni von Leeuwenhoek (1632–1723) was the leading microscopist of the early modern period. He discovered sperm in 1677 and soon joined the debate over the nature of animal generation. While most were following William Harvey in seeing a central role for the female egg, Leeuwenhoek claimed that 'it is exclusively the male semen that forms the foetus'.

Leeuwenhoek's writings were originally published letter by letter in Leiden and Delft from 1684 to 1689; sets of the complete works first appeared in 1719 and were composed of those separate issues, bound together and fitted with title-pages so that hardly any two sets are exactly alike.

Provenance: Book Collector and Doctor of Medicine Torben Schiødt (1926–2009).