ADANSON, M.

Histoire naturelle de Sénégal. COQUILLAGES.

Eur 2,800 / USD 2,900
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Paris, chez Claude-Jean-Baptiste Bauche, 1757. 4to (292 x 222mm). pp. (8), 190, xcvi, 275, with 1 folded engraved map and 19 engraved plates. Contemporary mottled calf, gilt ornamented spine in 6 compartments with 2 green gilt lettered labels, sides with gilt border (splits to joints and ends of spine rubbed).

A large paper copy with proof plates

A special copy with the following gilt lettering on spine 'Gr. Papier Fig. Ier Epreuv'. A large paper copy with proof plates. "Between 1749 and 1753 the Frenchman Adanson (1727-1806) endured the rigours of the tropical climate of Senegal to collect and observe its animals and plants. Although he had intended to publish a monumental treatise on the country's fauna and flora only one volume of his 'Histoire naturelle du Sénégal' appeared, ... Adanson's careful examination of the soft parts of many molluscs led him to propose a classification founded principally upon anatomical characters. He was the first to utilize the characters of the operculum and the first to classify bivalve shells according to the number of muscle impressions. Fischer-Piette considers that he was also the first zoologist to employ a consistent binominal nomenclature, anticipating by one year, therefore, the publication of the tenth edition of the Systema Naturae ..." (Dance pp. 66-68).

Nissen ZBI, 27.