Marrin's Bookshop

Item Description

FIRST EDITION. 8vo. 9 x 6 inches. xl + 362 pp. [2] pp. publishers' advertisements. Bound in original green cloth, gilt, boards with decorative blind stamped borders enclosing gilt block, which is also on spine. Front hinge just starting to crack and a few traces of foxing confined to margins; otherwise a very good clean copy bound in bright boards. Signature on first free endpaper. Illustrated by 12 plates (11 chromolithograph, including frontispiece and one in black and white, protected by tissue guards) and by wood engraved figures in text. Beautifully illustrated standard account of the various families and species of the British sea anemones and corals. Perhaps the most important title of Philip Henry Gosse (1810-88), elected F.R.S. 1856, naturalist, marine biologist, pioneer of the sea water aquarium, and a prolific writer of popular and educational books. First published in parts, 1858-60. (Freeman and Wertheimer, Gosse Bibliography, 107-108).