Singulorum Generum Curculionidum unam alteramve speciem additis iconibus ... Die Gattungen der Rüsselkäfer erläutert durch bildliche Darstellung einzelner Arten … Heft 1-14, 17, 18

Description:

Text Latin and German. One of the rarest works on Coleoptera. Originally intended to be published in two volumes, each consisting of 10 Hefte (fascicules) (each with 8 plates and 8 leaves of descriptive text), however the final part of the second volume was never published. Of the 19 published Hefte, we offer here 16 (1-14, 17, 18), with 128 (of 152) mostly hand-coloured plates. Co-authored by two Swiss naturalists, Jonas David Labram (1785-1852), a botanical and entomological artist, and Ludwig Imhoff (1801-1868) a physician and zoologist. It is very unusual to find this work in its original state, with original parts in their printed wrappers. The 'Heft' numbers are hand written on each of the printed wrappers, which are dated, 1838 (Heft 1-5), 1840 (Heft 6-12), 1845 (Heft 13-14, 17, 18). Bousquet gives dates of publication: Hefte 1-2 (1838), 3-4 (1839), 5-7 (1840), 8-9 (1841), 10 (1842), 11 (1843), 12-13 (1845), 14 (1847), 15 (1848), 16-17 (1849), 18 (1850), 19 (1851). A title page and preface (dated 1838), a title page to Part 1 (fasc. 1-10) (dated 1842) and index to Part 1 (fasc. 1-10) are present. No preface or index were published for Part 2.

Horn-Schenkling 12582; Nissen ZBI 2339; Litteratura Coleopterologica (Bousquet, 2016), p. 310.

Condition

16 parts (of 19), 8vo (208x125mm), unbound in orig. printed blue/brown wrappers (Heft 2 + 4 in brown wrappers, rest in blue), several covers detached, some wear; some pages unopened; light foxing to text, plates mostly clean. Very good set.