Stuttgart, E. Schweizerbart, 1861. Large 4to (32.0 x 25.5 cm) [Board size 32.5 x 26.0 cm] 36 pp.; three finely hand-coloured lithographed plates with explanatory text leaves. Original printed boards.

A rarely seen copy in original printed boards of a very early work on Japanese shells, published only seven years after the opening of Japan to the West. The vast majority of the species described, therefore, were new and validly named by Dunker. Wilhelm Bernard Rudolph [or Rudolf] Hadrian Dunker (1809-1885) was geology professor at the University of Marburg, and founder of Palaeontographica, the most important palaeontographical periodical of the 19th century. He was "one of the most important malacologists of his time" (Wikipedia). He was usually known as Wilhelm, a name sometimes Latinized to Guilielmo, as on the title page of this work. Provenance: small stamp of the American malacologist Richard Irwin Johnson (1925-2020) in the top margin of the front free endpaper recto and title. Boards rubbed and bumped at extremities. Stamp of the Parisian publisher and book dealer Paul Klincksieck on the front board. First explanatory leaf with a small hole, not affecting the text; the explanatory text leaves a bit toned, but the other text pages and plates quite clean. A very good copy. Nissen ZBI, 1208.