Adams, Arthur | A charming collection of plates drawn from a landmark voyage

Adams, Arthur

The Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Samarang; Under the Command of Captain Sir Edward Belcher ... Mollusca. London: F. Reeve for Reeve and Benham, 1848

Small folio (305 x 235 mm). Title page inscribed, 87pp. of text including index, 24 plates 23 of which hand-colored, all on stubs; some scattered foxing. Modern blue buckram, upper board gilt-lettered, inner gutter of upper joint splitting.

Sold as a collection of plates, not subject to return.

The first part of the official scientific report of Sir Edward Belcher's surveying voyage — presentation copy, inscribed "M. Valenciennes | from the authors".

After the war with China, Belcher was sent there to survey the coast. Trouble with the pirates among the islands, however, caused him to be transferred to Borneo, the Philippine Islands, and Formosa, and his work there and on the adjacent coasts occupied him for nearly five years.

In editing the book, Arthur Adams arranged the significant zoological results of this expedition in four sections by various authors, including himself, John Edward Gray, Sir John Richardson, Lovell Reeve, and Adam White (1817-1879). The present work represents the first of these sections.

Achille Valenciennes, to whom this volume was presumably inscribed, was a French zoologist, who studied under Georges Cuvier, working with him on the 22-volume Histoire Naturelle des Poissons (1828–1848). 

A charming collection of plates. 

REFERENCE:

Nissen ZBI 289

PROVENANCE:

Achille Valenciennes (presentation inscription)