Berlin, G. Reimer, 1829-1833. Five parts in one. Tall folio (35.6 x 22.2 cm). Frontispiece portrait of Eschscholtz; five letterpress title pages with blank versos; 103 pp.[I: iii-iv, 17; II: 13; III: 18; IV: 19; V: iii-viii, 28]; 25 engraved plates, each in original hand-colouring. 19th-century quarter calf over marbled boards. Spine with gilt title. Marbled edges.

A very rare atlas, containing descriptions and illustrations of new animals collected by the German medical doctor and naturalist Johann Friedrich von Eschscholz (1793-1831) during the circumnavigation by the Russian vessel Predpriaetië under command of the Baltic German navigator and explorer Otto von Kotzebue (1787-1846). It contains the illustration and description of many new animals, in particular mammals, birds, lizards, salamanders, a turtle, beetles, and gastropods, as well as jellyfish, marine worms, and sand dollars. Many are from then little explored North Pacific waters and adjacent territories. The last part, published after Eschscholtz' untimely death, was written by the German anatomist, zoologist, and embryologist Martin Heinrich Rathke (1793-1860), based on Eschscholtz material and unpublished notes. It contained a portrait of Eschscholtz, here placed as frontispiece. Rathke provided a bibliography and list of Eschscholtz' publications. Rathke is also the author of the new salamanders, limpets (gastropods), and beetles newly described and illustrated in Part V. Boards and spine worn at edges, rebacked long ago with use of the old spine; plates slightly toned and with some off setting as seen in all copies known to us. Only 7 complete copies have appeared in auction in the last 60 years. Adler 2, p. 48 (Rathke), pp. 58-59 (Eschscholtz); Nissen ZBI, 1313; Wood, p. 334.