Shells & Fossils

First edition; folio, (40.4 x 26.7 cm); complete with engraved author portrait and architectural frontispiece and 60 further engraved plates, tissue repair to top of frontispiece, light tears on pp.2, 45, 283, missing corner on p.283, tape repair to plate xli; recent vellum binding; 340pp.

First edition; 2 vols, 4to, (329 x 265 mm); complete with 14 lithographic plates, 112 woodcuts, 5 maps, 31 engraved plates of fossils, 9 folding hand-coloured geological sections signed by the author, some pages lightly spotted,second vol contains large, hand-coloured engraved 3 sheet folding map signed by Murchison of 'The Silurian Region and Adjacent Counties of England & Wales, Geologically Illustrated', also containing a 'map of England and Wales, Coloured according to Geological Systems', 28 compartments, (976 x 1633 mm), backed on red silk edged linen, with autographed letter signed 'Rodk Murchison' to the French naturalist Dr Henri Milne-Edwards, asking for an 'account of the Serpulina formed shelly body' for his description of the Ludlow rocks; fine contemporary calf binding with red morocco labels on decorated spine, gilt ruled boards with ornithological motif gilt stamped on upper cover, corners of boards and spine slightly bumped; 768pp, overall a very good copy.