Recherches zoologiques pour servir à l'histoire de la faune de l'Amérique Centrale et du Mexique. Mission scientifique au Mexique et dans l'Amérique Centrale. Quatrième partie. [Études sur les poissons.]

Folio: [viii]-265 pp.; 20 pl. (1st ff. with marg. damp stains, some minor spotting on text).

Mod. green half morocco over marbled boards, spine with gilt orn. raised bands.

New title ed. (first: 1874-83) of this fine and rare complete copy of this superbly illustrated work on the fishes of Central America and the Caribbean, with the descriptions of many new and poorly known species. The work forms part 4 of the "Mission Scientifique" comprising 13 volumes. This vol. is particularly rare in a complete state, such as this copy, as it was published in instalments over a period of over no less than 40 years. Many of the fine coloured plates, heightened with gum arabic, are by Bocourt and lithographed by Mesnel. Léon Vaillant (1834-1914) was a noted French ichthyologist and herpetologist and professor of reptiles and fishes at the Paris "Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle" and "thus came to hold the chair of Count de Lacepède and Dumérils and inherited responsibility for the then-largest collections of reptiles and fishes in the world" (Adler). Marie Firmin Bocourt (1819-1904) combined zoological knowledge with great artistic qualities. It was in fact he who initiated the "Mission scientifique" series, together with the ichthyologist and herpetologist Auguste Duméril (1812-1870).
Ref. Nissen 4210 (ed. 1874-83).