AQUARIUM 1865 Conchology MARINE Biology FISH Crab CORAL

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Beautifully-presented 144-year-old work created for owners of early Victorian aquariums …

Bevel-edged hardback, around five inches by more than six tall (circa 132 mm x 160 mm if you prefer), was bound by Westleys, London in embossed purple boards, decorated to front, and to the back-strip protecting the spine, in original gilt.

Published by Routledge Warne and Routledge, London in 1865. No ownership inscriptions or permanent markings to the text. Although interior condition is overall very good, book displays minor signs of use or age -- occasional foxing / marginal markings -- consistent with a printed object more than a century old. All xvi preliminary pages + 328 pp main text + 7 pp publisher's ads at rear are complete and otherwise edged. All pages are lustrously gilt-edged.

The work's fuller title: "The Aquarium. A Popular Account of Marine and Fresh-Water Animals and Plants."

The author was an important marine biologist of his day. This work is indicative of the emergence of contemporary collections of natural history objects and their display within one's home. Ecologies were established using various live sea creatures, both plants and animal, usually collected personally at the sea shore.

Sowerby, a noted conchologist, zoologist and marine illustrator, describes the construction and maintenance of the aquarium and the type of creatures to collect …

Complete with 20 colour illustrations -- we should see a few sample pages appear directly …

¶ George Brettingham Sowerby II (1812 – 1884); British naturalist, conchologist, marine biologist and illustrator. ¶

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