Bourguignat, J. R.
Les spiciléges malacologiques.
Paris, J. B. Baillière et fils, 1860-1862. 8vo (24.3 x 17.0 cm). Half-title, title page, 287 pp.; 15 lithographed plates of which six finely hand-coloured. Later black buckram with gilt lines and title on the spine. Speckled edges. Original printed wrappers bound in.
Contains many new species and in contrast to many other works by Bourguignat it is well-illustrated. Dance calls the French malacologist Jules-René Bourguignat (1829-1892) the bête noir of French conchology, saying that the "practice of species-mongering represents an unsavoury aspect of systematic conchology in the 19th century". The number, 26, on the spine refers to the numbered list of papers in Oeuvres scientifiques de M. J.-R. Bourguignat, published by Servain. As most of Bourguignat's papers were published in only 100 copies, a set like this, published over quite a long period, is rare. Provenance: the Conchological Society of Great Britain and Ireland (their oval stamp on the half title); then purchased by Wheldon & Wesley (their stamp over the Conchological Society stamp, and dated May 1954, and finally bought by the American malacologist Richard Irwin Johnson (1925-2020), with his stamp in the top margin of the front free endpaper. Plate 15 detached. Some scattered foxing, more extensive on several text leaves. In the rear, two publishers' catalogues, announcing Deshayes's Description des animaux sans vertèbres découverts dans le Bassin de Paris, and a price list of other natural history titles, dated May 1859. Caprotti II, p. 175; Dance, S. P. A History of Shell Collecting, pp. 163-164; Nissen ZBI, 508.