Paris, F. G. Levrault, 1823. 8vo (23.5 x 14.5 cm). xii, 272 pp.; 60 engraved plates. Publisher's printed boards. In transparent sleeve.

This copy was presented to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia by William MacClure, one of its founding members, as acknowledged by a printed label on the front paste-down. The naturalist, cartographer and "father of American geology" MacClure (1763-1840) went to New Harmony, Indiana, with other noted naturalists, such as Thomas Say ("father of American entomology and malacology"), David Dale Owen, Charles-Alexandre Lesueur, and several others, in pursuit of a new, Utopian life of happiness, enlightenment, and prosperity through education, science, technology, and communal living. Written by the French zoologist, and principally ichthyologist, herpetologist and entomologist, André Marie Constant Duméril (1774-1860), this work is of taxonomic importance as he introduced new taxa. The plates are of a very high quality, being drawn by Prêtre under the direction of Turpin. The great Swiss-born French natural history artist Jean Gabriel Prêtre (1768-1849) was, arguably, one of the best French natural history illustrators of the 19th century. He illustrated several of the most important and beautiful travel, exploration and natural history publications, including works by Ramon de la Sagra, Alcide d'Orbigny, Paul Deshayes, Frédéric Cuvier, Antoine Risso, René Primevère Lesson, André Duméril, Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, and others. Several bird species and a lizard were named after him. Pierre Jean François Turpin (1775-1840)was a French botanist and natural history illustrator. Spine cover with some chips; the top outer corner of most plates with a circular water-stain, on a few plates just reaching printed images. Text rather foxed. Also with a stamp of the ANSP on the title page. Horn-Schenkling, 5521; Nissen ZBI, 1192.