Hand-List of the Edentate, Thick-Skinned and Ruminant Mammals in the British Museum

Description:

Scarce. This work includes information on anteaters, sloths, and armadillos, elephants, rhinos, deer, antelopes, giraffes etc, which were housed in the British Museum (Natural History), London. John Edward Gray (1800-1875), was a prominent 19th-century zoologist, responsible for describing and naming numerous species during his tenure at the British Museum. The book reflects the state of zoological knowledge and museum curation in the 19th century and offers insights into how specimens were collected, studied, and categorized during this period. An interesting aspect of the work, as stated in the introduction is that 'Whenever the specimen has been presented or obtained directly from a collector, the name of the presenter or collector, and the habitat sent with the specimen, have been recorded immediately after the specimen; but the far greater number of specimens have been obtained from dealers….'.

Condition

8vo, orig. cloth (joints splitting at top; wear to head of spine). Some foxing to plates (particularly last plate). Ex-lib. Portsmouth Public Library, ink stamps to title page and first page of text; shelf no. to spine.