Exotic Conchology or Drawings and Descriptions of Rare Beautiful or Undescribed Shells.
Princeton: Van Nostrand Company, [1968]. Hardcover. 4to. Burgundy cloth with gilt lettering. xxiv, 39pp, 48 color full-page plates (rectos only), pp. 41-48. All edges gilt. Numerous illustrations, green marbled endpapers. Fine. Item #43706
Superb copy of this facsimile reprint limited to 2,000 copies -- the first volume in the Delaware Museum of Natural History's "Reproduction Series." Editor R. Tucker Abbott notes in his preface that this is "one of the most beautiful and most rare of shell books... produced in London in three editions, from 1821 to 1841. The early issues were so rare that the book remained a bibliographical puzzle until comparatively recently." This facsimile reproduces the complete third (1841) edition plus portions of the first and second editions. Lovely copy of a lovely book.
Price: $75.00