Geneva, Cramer, Philibert and Philibert, 1746. 4to (24.4 x 19.2 cm). 44 pp. Early 20th-century pebbled half-morocco over marbled boards. Marbled endpapers.

A rare catalogue of an extensive conchological collection which included shells from Indo-Pacific, Atlantic, and Mediterranean Sea, as well as fossil specimens. The descriptions are pre-Linnaean, but many are recognizable nonetheless. The descriptions include 23 types of non-turbinate monovalves (e.g., Nautilus, Patella, Echinus), 166 bivalves (e.g., Pecten, Musculus, Tellina), and hundreds of gastropods, subdivided and including 109 Turbo, 60 Cylindrus, i.e. mostly Conidae, 17 Strombus, 4 Trochus, 22 Nerita, 27 Purpura, and 53 Murex). Scali was an accountant and economist, living in Leghorn. Another work by him is Trattato del modo di tenere la scrittura dei mercanti a partite doppie cioè all' italianae descrizione del bilancio della prima e della seconda ragione (1755). A wide-margined copy in a good, protective binding. Rare. OCLC reports about ten copies in European libraries, and two in the USA. We found only one auction record. Tomlin (1946), Catalogues and Collections. In: Proc. Malac. Soc. Lond., p. 119.