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Mammiferi e Uccelli, Amfibi, Pesci. Roma, Tipografia Salviucci, 1832-1841. 3 volumes. Folio (385 x 275m). pp. (1104), with 180 very fine handcoloured lithographed plates. Contemporary half dark blue morocco, spines with gilt lettering and ornaments, top edges gilt.

A large and fine copy of this monumental work on the vertebrate fauna of Italy, published in 30 parts. The third and largest volume concerns fishes and contains 78 large splendidly hand-coloured plates. These plates represent a unique portrayal of Italian and Mediterranean fishes and have never been surpassed in beauty of execution. Some of the plates have a silver metallic sheen. The plates were lithographed by Battistelli, most of them from drawings by Carolus Ruspi and Petrus Quattochi.
Charles Lucien Bonaparte was the nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte. Soon after his marriage Bonaparte went to the United States, where he started a brilliant career as a naturalist and published his 'American ornithology' (Philadelphia 1825-1833). At the age of 25 he returned to Europe. Despite his family connections and the disruptions that followed the Napoleonic era, he became a competent and highly respected naturalist. "Now he intended to increase the knowledge of all branches of the vertebrates by his researches and theoretical works; with his 'Iconografia della fauna Italica', begun in 1832 and completed in 1841, he added to the understanding of Italian mammals, reptiles, amphibia, and fishes, as well as birds' (Stresemann. Ornithology p. 158). "With his extensive private collection and library housed at his estate in Rome, he began work on his vertebrate zoology of Italy ... Volume two, the 'Amfibi', covers herpetology and contains 54 beautiful handcoloured plates, in folio size. It was the standard on the Italian herpetofauna until superseded by Lorenzo Camerano's monographs" (Adler p. 29).

Provenance: Markree Castle library with library ticket & Bookplate of H. Bradley Martin.

Nissen, 'Schöne Fischbücher', 26; Nissen ZBI, 459; Wood p. 248; Anker 48.