[Rarebooks] FS: 1819, 1845, 1866 on Mastodons & Prehistoric Life

[Joslin Hall Rare Books, ABAA]

>From our new JANUARY CATALOG-
<http://www.joslinhall.com/Catalog_292.htm>


153. [Prehistoric Life] [Hall, John H.] "The Great American Mastodon,
(Mastodon Giganteum, of Cuvier); Its History and Habits, as inferred from
its anatomical structure and Indian tradition) together with An Essay on
the Last Races" An offprint from the American Quarterly Journal of
Agriculture and Science: 1845. The skeleton was excavated in August of
1845 near Newburgh, New York, and represented the most complete skeleton
of a mastodon yet found in America. OCLC locates 4 copies of this
offprint. Softcover. 5.5”x9”, 12 pages plus a full-page plate of a
skeleton of the mastodon. A very clean, fresh, really superlative copy.
[30295] $150.00


154. [Prehistoric Life] Tilesius, von T., W.G. "On the Mammoth or Fossil
Elephant, Found in the Ice, at the Mouth of the River Lena, in Siberia.
With a Lithographic Plate of the Skeleton" London; Wm. Phillips: 1819. The
English edition of a piece originally published in the Memoirs of the
Imperial Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg. The text mainly concerns
the excavation of the remains of a mammoth from the banks of the Lena
River in the Tunguska region of Siberia in 1806, but also touches on other
mammoth excavations of the period. The Lena skeleton can still be seen in
the St. Petersburg Museum. OCLC locates 11 copies. Hardcover. 8.5”x11”, 15
pages plus a lithographic plate; an ex-institutional copy, with several
stamps on the rear of the title page and the endsheet; bound in later blue
cloth, covers scuffed, a little internal spotting and soil. [30296]
$450.00


155. [Prehistoric Life] Ward, Henry A. "Catalogue of Casts of Fossils,
from the Principal Museums of Europe and America, with short descriptions
and illustrations" Rochester; Benton & Andrews, printers: 1866. In the
19th and early 20th centuries it was accepted practice to furnish museums
with casts of all types, from classical statues to trilobites, and this
catalog caters to the latter trade. Here Henry Ward offers a complete and
comprehensive listing of fossils, from minute Ammonites to a complete
Plesiosaur or a Megatherium, many taken from originals at the British
Museum.

    In the 1860s and 1870s dinosaurs were not yet a major subject for
study- few had been discovered. Paleontologists were very excited
though, by earlier plant and animal life, as shown here, and
especially by another set of animals amply illustrated here- early
mammals. The fight to discover and name early mammals was at least as
heated as the dinosaur wars which would erupt a few decades later,
because it was through these fossils that scientists were slowly
attempting to prove Darwin's controversial theory of Evolution. Ward
catalogs everything in a scientific manner and also includes fossil
tracks, and even replicas of the models shown at the Crystal Palace.
At the rear of the catalog he offers skins and skeletons of
contemporary American animals and also, grotesquely, "Aborigines
-Indians of various Western Tribes: Skulls, from $15 to $25 each.
(These are taken fresh, not disinterred from old graves)".

    A unique view of 19th century natural history, a terrific
Victorian-era trade catalog, and also interesting from the standpoint
of the religious and scientific controversies then swirling amid the
scientific community. Henry Ward was one of the most interesting and
omnipresent characters in Victorian natural history. After making a
fortune supplying museums with natural history and paleontological
exhibits he turned his attention to meteorites with the same zealous
thoroughness. The chronicle of Henry A. Ward's career and various
interests is well covered in Roswell Ward's 1948 biography.

    Softcover. 5.5"x9", viii + 228 + 7 pages, illustrated in b/w
throughout, with 2 folding plates. A very nice example of the
softcover edition, in the original decorated covers, which picture the
famous Megatherium skeleton. There is some soil and a few minor spots
on the covers, and some minor internal foxing. This copy was evidently
amongst the English export set, as most of the items are priced in
pencil in pounds and shillings. With the bookseller's tag of James
Gregory, Geologist and Mineralogist of London on the inside of the
front cover, and stamped twice by him on the title page, as well as
every once in a while in the catalog itself. [30403] $1,250.00



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