Calcutta, Geological Survey Office, 1871. Folio (37.0 x 25.1 cm). Title page, xxii, 538 pp.; 50 lithographed plates with explanatory text leaves. Near-contemporary half calf with blind-tooled borders over pebbled boards. Spine with gilt lines, and two red morocco labels with gilt title.

A very early and very uncommon work on the rich shell faunas of India, but also a comprehensive review of bivalve systematics, therefore transcending being a "regional" work. Published in the Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India with the descriptions and fine illustrations of many new and poorly known species, usually being quite well preserved. The author is the Moravian zoologist and palaeontologist Ferdinand Stoliczka (Czech Stolička (1838-1874). "Stoliczka studied geology and palaeontology at Prague and the University of Vienna under Professor Eduard Suess and Dr Rudolf Hoernes. ... In 1862 Stoliczka joined the Geological Survey of India (GSI) under the British Government in India after being recruited by Dr Thomas Oldham (1816-1878). In Calcutta he was assigned the job of documenting the Cretaceous fossils of southern India and published them in the Palaeontologia Indica, along with William Thomas Blanford. By May 1873 this work was completed with four volumes totalling nearly 1500 quarto size pages with 178 plates" (Wikipedia). Provenance: a malaco-palaeontological bookplate of Jeffrey D. Stilwell mounted on the front pastedown. Both hinges very weak, almost detached; scattered, minimal foxing, a bit more so on the explanatory leaves and last plate, otherwise a very good, complete copy. Nissen ZBI 3998. Not in Ward and Carozzi.