Descrizione

Wien, Karl Gerold's Sohn, 1867. Large 4to (31.2 x 24.5 cm). 16 pp.; two fine, lithographed plates with explanatory text leaves. 20th-century quarter linen over patterned boards. Gilt title on the spine. Original printed wrappers bound in. = During the second half of the 19th century, every nation with maritime and imperialistic interests sent out ships to investigate the lesser-known parts of the world, and the scientific results (geography, geology, meteorology, ethnography, botany, zoology, etc.) of such expedition were often published in lavishly illustrated monographs. The Austrian Novara-expedition was no exception. The Austrain malacologist Georg Ritter von Frauenfeld (1807-1873) described the molluscs collected by the Novara expedition and found that there were comparatively few, because no dredging was done, and all shells were hand-picked. And yet he described some 30 new species which are vfinely illustrated on the two plates. Usually this work is found as an excerpt from the Denkschriften of the Kaiserliche Akademie der Wissenschaften in Vienna. This, however, is the rarer offprint, with original wrappers and new pagination. Stamp of former owner in the top margin of the front wrapper. An excellent, clean copy (rare in this state).