Essai sur la Physionomie des Serpens (atlas volume only)

Pp. (4), 21 full-page lithographed plates by W.H. Hoogkamer, three double page maps (with color highlights), one double page table, one quadruple page folding table.  Original printed paper-covered boards, lettered in black and with an ornate floral-design border surrounding the text block, original gray endpapers, lg folio (17 x 13 inches).  Hermann Schlegel (1804-1884) was a German ornithologist and herpetologist who began his career working for Jacob Temminck, Director of the Natural History Museum of Leiden.  Schlegel later succeeded Temminck as Director of the Museum.  Schlegel early work was mostly herpetological in nature.  His most famous herpetological work was “Essai sur la physionomie des serpens” (1837) offered here.  This was the first truly scientific treatise on snakes.  Although it contained valuable descriptions of species, based on the rich Leiden collection and Schlegel's personal examination of the major European collections, his classification scheme never gained wide acceptance and was soon overshadowed by snake volumes published by A. -M.-C. Dumeril. Gabriel Bibron, and Auguste Dumeril (1844,1853,1854) (modified after Adler - Contributions to the History of Herpetology, vol. 1, p. 30-31).  For further information, also Nissen ZBI 3684; BMNH, p. 1838; Vanzolini, p. 57; Engelman, p. 429; Agassiz IV, p. 268.  No ownership marks.  Rare work.