Paris, Le Garde des Sceaux, 1910. Large 4to (30.2 x 23.0 cm). Half-title and title page, 86 pp.; one text illustration (photo), 28 plates [numbered 1-27, 19A] of which numbers 1-2, 6-7, 8-9, 1-19, 22-23, and 24-25 combined on a double-sized plate; sixteen in chromolithography, 11 in lithography and one heliogravure. Later green buckram. Spine with gilt title.

The entire section on the crocodiles, turtles and tortoises of this immense series of monographs on the natural history of Madagascar, founded and edited by the French explorer and naturalist Alfred Grandidier (1836-1921). Rare today because an antiquarian bookseller burnt the remaining copies when he moved his stock from Liechtenstein to the U.S. This is the only herpetological part. Léon Louis Vaillant (1834-1914) was a talented and prolific French herpetologist, ornithologist and malacologist who worked at the Natural History Museum in Paris. Alfred's son, Guillaume Grandidier (1873-1957) was an accomplished geographer, ethnologist and zoologist who published a great deal on the natural history of Madagascar, including many contributions in the Histoire physique, naturelle et politique de Madagascar, which was published between 1875 and 1942. Most parts, including this one, are scientifically especially important and rare. "His most magnificent work in herpetology, co-authored with Guillaume Grandidier, was the volume on turtles and crocodiles (1910) in the Histoire Physique, Naturelle et Politique de Madagascar series, with its exquisitely coloured plates. Regrettably, no other herpetological volumes were issued in this series" (Adler). Plate 27 with corrected (printed) caption mounted, as it should be. Tiny re-touch restauration to plate 24-25, which is hardly noticeable now. Small bump to front outer top corner, otherwise a very good, exceptionally clean copy: this work is usually found quite foxed, but this copy has only some, mostly marginal and very light foxing - nearly all the coloured plates are entirely clean and in good condition. Adler I, pp. 58-59 (for Vaillant); Adler II, pp. 89-90 (for Grandidier); Nissen ZBI, 1676. Not in the Crane Library.