Conchyliologie oder Abhandlung von den Schnecken, Muscheln und andern Schaalthieren welche in der See, in süssen Wassern und auf dem Lande gefunden werden, Nebst der Zoomorphose oder Abbildung und Beschreibung der Thiere welche die Gehäuse bewohnen. Aus dem Französischen übersetzt und mit Anmerkungen vermehret by DEZALLIER D'ARGENVILLE, Antoine Joseph

Finely engraved added title & 40 engraved plates. Printed title in red & black. 2 p.l. (incl. engraved title), xii, 302, 82, lviii, [14] pp. Folio, cont. marbled boards (one corner a bit worn), spine gilt, red & green leather lettering pieces on spine. Vienna: Krauss, 1772. First edition in German, and a very fine copy from the library of Franziska von Hohenheim (see below). Dezallier (1680-1765), one of the chief contributors to the Encyclopédie (his articles were chiefly on gardening and ornamental waterworks in gardens) formed "one of the finest private collections of such objects as stones, shells, paintings, sketches, and art prints. No mere hoarder of curios, but a collector-scholar, he allowed visitors into his private museum and helped stimulate the passion for natural history so prevalent in eighteenth-century France."-Kafker, The Encyclopedists as Individuals: A Biographical Dictionary of the Authors of the Encyclopédie, pp. 12-16. The present work is translated with valuable additions from the second French edition of 1757. It is a storehouse of information on shells and remains today a valuable source because it describes many of the famous eighteenth-century natural history collections of Europe. Written for the collector in order to facilitate the identification of shells for the cabinet, it "was very popular with collectors and even Linnaeus utilized it to arrange his shells."-Dance, Shell Collecting. An Illustrated History, pp. 58-59. There is an extensive list of shells, with remarks on rarity and desirability, followed by a discussion of private natural history collections in Paris and Holland, with remarks on the outstanding features of each collection. The plates are especially well-engraved and are present in rich, dark impressions. Very fine and fresh copy with large margins. Old library stamp on title. From the library of Franziska Theresia Reichsgräfin von Hohenheim, the second wife of Duke Carl Eugen of Wurttemberg. Her characteristic bindings are always so pleasing and the books so fresh. ❧ D.S.B., I, pp. 243-44. Yves Laissus, "Les Cabinets d'Histoire Naturelle," in Enseignement et Diffusion des Sciences en France au Dix-Huitième Siècle (ed. René Taton), p. 679-85.