Napoli, Gaetano Nobile, 1857-1862. Four parts in one. Folio (31.0 x 24.7 cm). xvi, 248, [iv] pp.; 11 lithographed plates [numbered I-IX, XI-XII] of which the last two in fine, original hand-colouring. Later brown buckram. Spine with gilt lines and title.

The magnum opus of the Italian malacologist Luigi Benoit (1804-1890), otherwise known for the marine counterpart, Conchigliologia vivente marina della Sicilia which he co-authored with Andrea Aradas (1810-1882). The title continues with: Aggiuntavi la descrizione di alcuni testacei marini nuovi o poco conosciuto del Mediterraneo di Nicola Tiberi. However, Tiberi's contribution was never included. This is a very rare publication, mainly known from incomplete copies. There has been great confusion about the number of plates. Several libraries have copies with eight plates. The very rare Plates 9, 11 and 12 are present in this copy, but absent in nearly all other copies; Plate 10, however, is nowhere to be found and its existence is much in doubt. The American malacologist and malaco-historian Richard Irwin Johnson (1925-2020), whose stamp is in the top margin of the front free endpaper and title page, tried to solve this question by asking librarians in several European countries, notably Marcello Michaelangeli of the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale in Milan; Philippe Bouchet (Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris), who forwarded the question to other malacologists and librarians; Hazel Gay (Librarian of the American Museum of Natural History, New York); R. T. Abbott (then at the Smithsonian), and Venia T. Phillips (Academy of Natural Science of Philadelphia). However, no Plate 10 was discovered. A plate index, in an old hand, to the first nine plates is bound in. Five original, signed and dated letters - all related to the search of Plate 10 - are loosely inserted. We found no auction record at all. Nissen ZBI, 317 [listing eight plates].