Madrid, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, [1869]-1870-1916. Four parts in one. 4to (30.0 x 22.0 cm) and 8vo (23.1 x 16.1 cm). 441 pp. ([vi], 5-152; 80; 144; 63); 17 plates (8; [7]; 0; 2) of which the first seven originally hand-coloured, and the last two with printed overlays. Mid-20th century burgundy buckram with gilt lines and title on the spine. Original printed wrappers bound in.

A very seldom-seen publication, in four parts, by three different authors. The first three parts, especially, are very rare. The first part, written by the leading 19th-century Spanish malacologist Joaquín Gonzáles Hidalgo y Rodríguez (1839-1923), is on terrestrial gastropods, chiefly from South America. Publication of this part was begun in 1870, but Hidalgo states that printing was finished in 1872. The second part, written by the Spanish malacologist Francisco de Paula Martínez y Sáez (1835-1908) also contains mainly South American species, from both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Here, the wrapper is dated 1870, but we have seen a near-identical wrapper with the date 1869. The third part, again by Hidalgo, deals with marine gastropods, but remained unillustrated. The fourth and final part was written by the German-American malacologist Fritz Haas (1889-1969) and deals with South American Unionidae and other freshwater clams (8vo. 63 pp.; two plates with printed, translucent overlays). Stamp of the American malacologist Richard Irwin Johnson (1925-2020) in the top margin of the front free endpaper rectos and wrappers. Handwritten and signed dedication by Hidalgo, to the French malacologist Paul Fischer on the title page of the first paper; pencilled dedication by Haas to the Belgian malacologist Philippe Dautzenberg on his front wrapper. Rather faint stamp, "Ministerio de Fomento", on the second and third title page. The plates to the bivalve-part are in old photostat. They are extremely rare, even the great collector Johnson could not find an original. Otherwise a very good, complete set. We found no auction records. Cat. BM(NH), p. 842; Nissen ZBI, 1935.