Leyde [Leiden], E. J. Brill, 1876. 8vo (22.6 x 14.1 cm). Drophead title; 356 pp. Original front wrapper - acting as title page - bound in. Contemporary half calf over pebbled boards. Spine with four raised bands, gilt ornamental bands and title. Grey endpapers.

A rare and important work on monkeys (taxonomy, morphology, variability, distribution, etc.) by the German-Dutch vertebrate zoologist Hermann Schlegel (1804-1884). The copy of the German-Dutch zoologist Max Weber (1852-1937), with his autograph and private library stamp on the front free endpaper recto. Weber was the scientific leader of the famous Siboga Expedition and published, for instance, Mammalia from the Malay archipelago (1890). Published on behalf of the natural history museum [ Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie - now Naturalis] in Leiden, the Netherlands. This single-volume monograph is a part of a larger series on the contents of the Museum, which ran well into the 20th century and dealt with many groups of animals. Most however, are simple lists of taxa. This detailed work is an exception. One leaf, loosely inserted, with annotations on a Malayan taxon, in German, apparently by Weber and possibly related to his Mammalia From the Malay Archipelago; a few marginalia. Boards rubbed at extremities, front lower hinge starting, otherwise quite a good copy with an interesting provenance. Cat. BM(NH), pp. 1106, 1839 [pars]. Not in Nissen.