Paris, Arthus Bertrand, 1834. 8vo (text; 21.7 x 14.4 cm) and folio (atlas; 30.5 x 22.3 cm). Text volume: xxxix, 535 pp.; Atlas: Title page; [ii (index)]; 40 finely engraved and beautifully hand-coloured plates by Jean Prêtre [(Mammifères) 1-8; Oiseaux 1-10; Reptiles 1-7; Poissons 1-5; Mollusques 1-3; Insectes 1-5; Zoophytes 1-2]. Uniform contemporary quarter calf over marbled boards. Spines with gilt ornamental bands at spines top and foot black ornaments, and red and black morocco labels with gilt title. Red edges.

The complete zoological results of an expedition by the French naturalist and explorer Charles Bélanger (1805-1881). Based upon material collected chiefly in the Caucasus region, Burma [Myanmar] and the East Indies, as well as on several islands, such as Mauritius, Réunion (Bourbon), and, in the Atlantic, Saint Helena. With contributions by truly the foremost French zoologists of the early to mid-19th century. The zoologist anatomist, and successor of Cuvier, Isodore Geoffrey Sainte-Hilaire (1805-1861) described the mammals including two new monkeys, a new cat and a new bat; the zoologist (principally ornithologist) René Primevère Lesson (1794-1849) described the birds, reptiles - including new snakes -, amphibians and zoophytes; the ichthyologist Achille Valenciennes (1794-1865) took care of the fish; the malacologist and palaeontologist Gérard Paul Deshayes (1796-1875) covered the molluscs; and zoologist (chiefly entomologist) Félix Édouard Guérin-Méneville (1799-1874) described the insects. With a few exceptions, the fine illustrations - almost all showing new species - are by the renowned Swiss-French natural history illustrator Jean Gabriël Prêtre (1768-1849). Some rubbing to the boards; skilful repair to the atlas spine; but nearly all plates clean, free of foxing. An excellent copy. Rare; only two auction records (of mediocre atlases, without text) in this century. Nissen ZBI, 288; Ronsil, 185 (p. 35).