Santiago de Chile, Gobierno de Chile, 1887. Large 4to (31.3 x 26.4 cm). 256 pp.; 58 fine lithographic plates. Publisher's embossed black cloth; boards with rich gilt-ornamented borders and title. Spine with five raised bands, compartments with gilt vignettes and title. Inner dentelles. Endpapers with floral pattern. All edges marbled.

Rare first, Spanish publication of the Tertiary and Quaternary fossils of Chile. Nearly all plates show molluscs, of which many are described and illustrated here for the first time. Also included are several echinoderms (sea urchins) and shark teeth. Rudolph Amandus "Rudolfo Amando" Philippi (1808-1904) was a prominent German malacologist and ornithologist who immigrated to Chile and continued his zoological researched there. He is the author of many important publications in malacology and conchology. Inscribed by the author on the first blank to Señor D. José Nicolás Hurtado. José Nicolás Hurtado de Mendoza y Jaraquemada (1836-1908) was a Chilean lawyer, diplomat and politician who held the position of charge d'affaires in Lima, Peru, at the beginning of the crisis that led to the Spanish South American War (1864-1866). Pictorial, palaeo-malacological bookplate of Jeffrey D. Stilwell mounted on the front pastedown. Some light wear to spine ends; otherwise a very good, clean copy. Copies with both text and plates clean are rare. Nissen ZBI, 3157 (for the German translation).