Linnaeus, C.
Fauna svecica. Sistens animalia Sveciae regni: quadrupedia, Aves, Amphibia, Pisces, Insecta, Vermes. Distributa per classes & ordines, genera & species. Cum differentiis specierum, synonymis autorum, nominibus incolarum, locis habitationum, descriptionibus insectorum.
Lugdunum Batavorum [Leiden], C. and G. J. Wishoff, 1746. 8vo (19.5 x 12.0 cm). Engraved allegorical frontispiece, [xxvi], 420 pp.; two folded engraved plates. Contemporary full calf. Spine with five raised bands, compartments with blind-tooled vignettes.
First edition of Linnaeus's important work on the fauna of Sweden. A revised edition was published in 1761. The folded plates mainly show birds, and a few insects. Herpetology occupies pp. 94-97, with four frogs, four lizards, and four ‘Serpentia’. The Vermes zoophyta and Vermes testacea (mainly Mollusca) occupy over 20 pages in the rear. In this edition, the genera are Linnaean, but the species had to wait until 1758 (Systema naturae, 10th ed.) to become binominal. According to Soulsby, this is a "pirated edition", the "official" work (Soulsby, 1151) having been published by Salvius in Stockholm. Soulsby refers to a review in the Nova Acta Eruditorum, 1749, pp. 508-512, however there is no indication of this being an unofficial publication in this review, or in any other contemporary review. Soulsby may have misinterpreted the abbreviation "plag.". In any event, the reviewer in the Nova Acta used the Leiden printing which happens to be the rarer edition. The frontispiece, often lacking, is present. Front cover, front free endpaper and first blank detached, boards and spine much rubbed, shield partly perished; two library stamps on the title page, otherwise (i.e., internally) a very good copy. Soulsby, 1152. Not in Nissen ZBI, despite the presence of illustrations.