Descrizione

Prague, Paris, privately published, 1867. Large 4to (32.9 x 25.9 cm). 179 pp.; 16 lithographed plates with explanatory text leaves. Original blind-tooled burgundy cloth with gilt title on spine. = Part of an enormous series on all aspects of Bohemian Silurian fossils. Each volume was privately printed in only 250 copies. See Zittel, and DSB. This is the complete section on pteropods. From 1840 to his death Barrande collected, described and drew the fossils of the central Bohemian Basin - this area has been called the Barrandian ever since. The strata of this basin are Proterozoic - early Paleozoic in age. At that time 'Silurian' might be applied to strata that today are in the Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian or Devonian system. The results formed the outstanding monograph Système silurien du centre de la Bohème, which appeared in eight parts forming 28 quarto volumes. Because this work is so comprehensive, its drawings so accurate and its descriptions so fine, it is still used as a reference book by palaeontologists. Boards slightly worn at edges, a scratch on the front board, a few spots in the text, light foxing to the right margin of a few plates, otherwise clean. A very good copy of this rare work. DSB Vol. 1, pp. 468-469; Nissen ZBI, 235; Zittel, pp. 445-456.