24 Jun 2008
14:00 BST
London, New Bond Street
Printed Books, Maps, Manuscripts and Photographs
Back to auction 16202
Printed Books, Maps, Manuscripts and Photographs
Back to auction 16202
SPIX (JOHANN BAPTIST VON)
Simiarum et vespertilionum brasiliensium speciae novae, ou histoire-naturelle des espéces nouvelles de singes et de chauves-souris observées et recueillies pendant le voyage dans l'intérieur de Brésil exécuté par ordre de S.M. Le Roi de Bavière dans les années 1817, 1818, 1819, 1820 , first edition, 38 lithographed plates, all but 2 hand-coloured, plates 35-38 (bats and uncoloured skull) with repaired tears touching image resulting in small loss to plate 36, short marginal tears to 2 plates, small blue pencil numerals on title and index leaf, occasional spotting, all on stubs, modern green half calf [Borba da Moraes II, p.828; Nissen ZBI 3953; Wood, p.579], folio, Munich, F.S. Hübschmann, 1823
Sold for
£20,400
inc. premium
Footnotes
- RARE. Johann Baptist von Spix (1781-1826) was the first curator of the Bavarian Academy of Science in Munich. He, together with the botanist Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius, was the leading naturalist on an expedition into the interor of Brazil, mounted under the auspices of Maximilian Joseph I, King of Bavaria. Between 1817 and 1820 they travelled far into the Amazonian rainforests in "one of the most important scientific voyages of the nineteenth century" (DSB). They amassed a huge collection of specimens, including 85 species of mammals, 350 species of birds, nearly 2,700 species of insects, and fifty-seven living animals. The series of finely produced publications issued by Spix on his return are one of the greatest records of South American natural history of this period.
The present work is devoted to monkeys, with a small section on native bats. The fine plates comprise: monkeys (34), bats (2), skulls (2).
Category: Books / Books, Maps and Manuscripts
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