Paris, J. B. Baillière et fils, 1868. Large 4to (31.8 x 23.7 cm). Half-title, title page, 102 pp.; nine lithographed plates with fine, original hand-colouring; one double-sized, coloured map of Africa. Light brown buckram with gilt title on the spine. Speckled edges.

A rare, taxonomically important and very well-illustrated work on the rich fauna of Angola in southwestern Africa. Written by the French malacologist Pierre Marie Arthur Morelet (1809-1892) based on material collected by the Austrian physician, explorer and botanist Friedrich [NOT Friederich!] Martin Josef Welwitsch (1806-1872). After his travels Welwitch went to London to work at the British Museum, which acquired his large botanical collections. The present work is rich in trivia, containing, for instance, comparative lists of terrestrial molluscs in various African countries, and a chapter on the use of shell money. The plates were printed on slightly smaller sheets. Oval stamp of the Conchological Society of Great Britain and Ireland in the lower margin of the title page and their small, weak blindstamp in plate outer margins; small stamp of the American malacologist Richard Irwin Johnson (1925-2020) in the top margin of the front free endpaper recto. Scattered, light spotting, a bit more so on the endpapers. A few illustrations, heightened with silver partly oxidized; otherwise a very good, wide-margined copy. We found no auction records. Nissen ZBI, 2888.