New York, NY, American Museum of Natural History, 1952. Large 8vo (26.3 x 19.3 cm). Seven papers in three. 1143 pp. Uniform blue buckram with gilt title on the spines. Original printed wrappers bound in.

A seldom-seen completely bound set of all seven papers by the American malacologist and malaco-historian Henry Dodge (1883-1968) on the identity of the species described by Linnaeus. The series, published in the Museum's Bulletin, was never finished. While starting on the seventh part, bad eyesight prevented the author from continuing. However, by then he had covered all molluscan classes, and most of the gastropod genera, including all the large ones with external shells, except Turbo (partly covered), Nerita and Patella. Also not treated were the genera Aplysia, Clio, Haliotis, Limax, Scyllaea and Thetis. Since Linnaeus was the first to validly introduce molluscan names, this is a very important publication. Comparisons are made between the 10th and 12th edition, and with several other early works by Linnaeus. Provenance: a stamp of the American malacologist Richard Irwin Johnson (1925-2020) in the top margin of the first, third, fifth and seventh front wrapper. Inscribed by the author on the third (dedication to Johnson) and fifth front wrapper. Spines of the first two bound volumes toned, otherwise a very good set. ADDED: enlarged photocopy of Dodge's obituary (showing a colourful life) in The New York Times, and an offprint, with dedication by Dodge to Johnson, of the former's 11 pp. paper, Evidential Factors in the Identification of the Linnaean Molluscs, published in the Journal of the Linnean Society of London (1959).