![LISTER, Martin (c.1638-1712). Historiae animalium Angliae tres tractatus. London: J. Martyn, 1678. 4° (201 x 158mm). 9 folding engraved plates. (A3 [signed A2] misbound after A4, short tear to plate 2 without loss, tiny burn hole to fourth part-title just touching two letters, light spotting and browning.) Contemporary calf (rebacked by Sotheran, preserving original gilt spine, extremities lightly rubbed). Provenance: Fournier (18th-century ink ?bookseller's inscription to flyleaf 'cette edition est portée à 15 [?livres]') -- Joseph Arnoult (two ink inscriptions, one to title 'au college de clermont 1764 30 livres 19 sous', with this price repeated to front pastedown, the other to drophead title on p.1 describing himself as Doctor of Medicine at Paris, 8 July 1767).](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2011/CSK/2011_CSK_05674_0018_000(lister_martin_historiae_animalium_angliae_tres_tractatus_london_j_mart041847).jpg?w=1)
Details
LISTER, Martin (c.1638-1712). Historiae animalium Angliae tres tractatus. London: J. Martyn, 1678. 4° (201 x 158mm). 9 folding engraved plates. (A3 [signed A2] misbound after A4, short tear to plate 2 without loss, tiny burn hole to fourth part-title just touching two letters, light spotting and browning.) Contemporary calf (rebacked by Sotheran, preserving original gilt spine, extremities lightly rubbed). Provenance: Fournier (18th-century ink ?bookseller's inscription to flyleaf 'cette edition est portée à 15 [?livres]') -- Joseph Arnoult (two ink inscriptions, one to title 'au college de clermont 1764 30 livres 19 sous', with this price repeated to front pastedown, the other to drophead title on p.1 describing himself as Doctor of Medicine at Paris, 8 July 1767).
RARE FIRST EDITION. The work is divided into three parts, with the first part addressing the subject of spiders, the second that of land and freshwater molluscs, and the third on fossils. In the preface to the latter (p. 199), Lister provides a summary of the competing contemporary arguments: 'Either these [rock shells] were terrigenous, or, if otherwise, the animals they represent so exactly have become extinct' (trans. Charles Lyell, Principles of Geology, Vol. I, p.31 - see lot 19). Without the appendix later published in 1681 sometimes found bound with this work. Keynes, Lister 1; Nissen ZBI 2527; Wing L2523 and L2514C.
RARE FIRST EDITION. The work is divided into three parts, with the first part addressing the subject of spiders, the second that of land and freshwater molluscs, and the third on fossils. In the preface to the latter (p. 199), Lister provides a summary of the competing contemporary arguments: 'Either these [rock shells] were terrigenous, or, if otherwise, the animals they represent so exactly have become extinct' (trans. Charles Lyell, Principles of Geology, Vol. I, p.31 - see lot 19). Without the appendix later published in 1681 sometimes found bound with this work. Keynes, Lister 1; Nissen ZBI 2527; Wing L2523 and L2514C.