The lizards of Australia and New Zealand in the collection of the British Museum.

Gray, John Edward.

Published by London: Bernard Quaritch, 1867.

About this Item

Quarto,8 pp.,18 uncoloured lithographed plate by George Henry Ford. Original publisher's wrappers with papered title on cover, the bookplates of David McPhee, the plates with typical oxidation and some spotting, mostly confined to the margins, rare. The rarest of all Australian reptile books and the first monograph on Australian reptiles. The specimens were collected on the Erebus and Terror Expedition of 1839-1843. The Lizards of Australia and New Zealand is bibliographically complex but essentially there were two parts published in the Zoology of the Erebus and Terror which, when combined, form a complete copy. The first part was written by John Edward Gray and published in 1845. It has eight pages and plates 1-4, 8-9, 12-14 and 20. The concluding part was written by Albert Gunther and published in 1875. It has pages 9-19 and plates 5-7, 10-11 and 15-19. In 1867 Quaritch assembled an issue with a newly published title page (The lizards of Australia and New Zealand in the collection of the British Museum), additional text by Gray and all the plates published to that time (plates five and six were not yet published). This copy is the Quaritch issue with 18 plates. Nissen 1695; Wood p. 368. See also John E. Gray and Albert Gunther The lizards of Australia and New Zealand [facsimile]. Athens: Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles, 1995. Seller Inventory # 40663

Bibliographic Details

Title: The lizards of Australia and New Zealand in ...

Publisher: London: Bernard Quaritch, 1867.

Binding: Soft cover