McCOY, Frederick

Natural History of Victoria. Prodromus of the Zoology of Victoria; or, Figures and Descriptions of the Living Species of All Classes of the Victorian Indigenous Animals [the complete run of 20 'Decades']

Melbourne, John Ferres, Government Printer (Published by George Robertson), 1878 to 1889.

Large octavo, 20 parts, containing overall approximately 900 pages plus 199 plates (one a large folding plate numbered as two), all but a few of them chromolithographs or tinted lithographs, some finished by hand.

Original stiffened salmon-pink wrappers; covers generally a little soiled and creased, with a few small chips and marks; spines worn and cracked; rear cover of the last part experted reattached; library labels of Marlborough College Natural History Society (with Bodleian Library cancellation stamps) to three decades; one plate remargined, one loose; occasional offsetting; minor signs of age and handling, but nevertheless, a good set.

A complete run in the original wrappers, rarely encountered these days.

'McCoy's beautifully illustrated book, even though unfinished, was the final word in nineteenth-century zoological scholarship with nearly 450 species described, including over a dozen described there for the first time, and for the first time the great majority illustrated from newly-acquired specimens. It is a key book of Australian colourplate natural history and should be in every serious collection' (Wantrup 2023, page 604).

'When first published in parts, each Decade of McCoy's book was issued with wrappers and an individual Decade title-leaf. Further, each Decade was supplied with its own preface in which McCoy provided an abstract of the contents of that part. Now in bound copies, as was intended, those surplus Decade title-leaves will generally have been discarded. As well, the Decade prefaces are often brought together at the beginning of each bound volume, as McCoy had himself recommended ... The final part of each volume, Decades X and XX, included the preliminary and terminal matter for the finished volume' (ibid, pages 603-4). This set is complete with all plates, temporary titles, and preliminary and terminal leaves.

From Decade X onward George Robertson was dropped from the imprint; from Decade XV the Government Printer was Robert S. Brain.

Wantrup 315.

[20 items].

Item #145839

Price (AUD): $3,500.00
other currencies