owen richard gray john e (1 risultati)

xii,180 pp. Quarto (28 X 22.5 cm.) Bound in an attractive modern, full dark blue straight grain morocco. Gilt decoration on spine and gilt decoration on boards. All edges speckled red. Marble endpapers to match. Modern bookplate on the front pastedown. Half title. 50 hand-colored engraved plates by Sowerby on the title page, but there are actually only 44 plates, 3 engraved geological plans with hand-colored details, and 1 folding hand-colored engraved plate of geological sections. One extra uncoloured plate not called for after Plate 44. Overall a very attractive and fresh copy with very bright colouring. A very rare item. An IMPORTANT WORK NOTED for ITS STRIKING COLORED PLATES of BIRDS, REPTILES, MAMMALS, and MARINE LIFE. The collections and notes were done during the four-year voyage of the Blossom, a voyage to assist the expeditions of W.E. Parry and John Franklin. The notes are by John Richardson (mammalia), Nicholas A. Vigors (birds), George T. Lay and Edward T. Bennett (fishes), Richard Owen (crustacea), William Buckland (geology), and John Edward Gray (reptiles and shells). As Beechey explains in the introduction, the appearance of this work was long frustrated and it was only after a full eight years that it saw publication. In no uncertain terms, he states "that it [the delay] has been occasioned entirely by Mr. Gray's failing to furnish his part in spite of every intercession from myself and others." As also noted by Beechey, although the nature of the Blossom's mission prevented long stays in any one locality, the crew did collect an astounding number of rare and exotic species from a good variety of locations. Hill 96; Sabin 71032. Lada Mocarski 105.