Stockholm, Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien, 1795. 8vo (21.0 x 13.5 cm). 7 pp. [numbered 180-186]; one large, folded plate showing a new snake and a toad. Marbled paper spine cover.

This is the description of a new snake, discovered in Södermansland, a province just south of the Swedish capital, Stockholm, followed by the description of a toad, collected near Karlskrona, in southeastern Sweden. The naturalist (chiefly ornithologist) and explorer Anders Sparrman (1748-1820), who is better known for his travels to South Africa and Cook's second voyage with HMS Resolution around the world, which Sparrman joined from Cook's stop at Cape Town in October 1772 until the return to London in July 1775. Published in the Kongliga Vetenskaps Academiens Nya Handlingar Volume 16(7-9). The footnote on p. 185 continues on p. 186 below a different work on an eclipse of Aldebaran and the moon. This copy, although without owner's inscription or stamp, from the library of the renowned Swedish herpetologist Richard Wahlgrén (1946-2019), who had a keen eye for herpetological rarities. Uncut. Three stains to the outer margin of the plate. Pencilled note in the top margin of the first page, signed "R", most probably by Richard Wahlgrèn. Otherwise, clean. A very good copy. Adler 3, pp. 41-42.