Berlin, Georg Reimer, 1856. Folio (45.4 x 32.0 cm). Title page, viii (recte vi), 115 pp., 32 lithographed plates of which 22 - of living animals - finely hand-coloured, and ten - showing skulls - plain. Early 20th-century dark blue half morocco over blue marbled boards. Gilt title on the spine. Marbled endpapers.

Important and rare contribution to the mammalian and herpetological fauna of Brazil, dedicated to Dom Pedro II, emperor of Brazil. A rare, originally colooured copy. The work deals with mammals (29 plates), and frogs (three plates). All frog plates are hand-coloured; among the mammal plates, ten are osteological, and plain, of which six (numbers 5-6, 11, 18-20) are printed in a smaller format and mounted. All are captioned. Karl (or Carl) Hermann Konrad Burmeister (1807-1892) was a German - later Argentine - zoologist, herpetologist, mammalogist and entomologist. "He traveled to Brazil from 1850 to 1852 and Argentina from 1857 to 1860, returning to Germany with zoological collections. In 1861 he went to live in Argentina, founding the Institute at the Museo Nacional in Buenos Aires" (Wikipedia). This work was based on his explorations in Brazil, and is dedicated to the emperor, Dom Pedro II. It includes descriptions of new mammals, in particular opossums, carnivores (Canidae), and frogs. Fore edge uncut. Dedication text leaf bound after contents leaf. Neatly inscribed and dated by a former owner, the German primatologist Hans Jürg Kuhn (b. 1934), in the top margin of the title page; minimal rubbing to boards and spine; some light spotting to the title page and a few text pages, plates rather toned (as usual), a few with some mild foxing or discolouration to two of the black & white plates, otherwise a very good copy. Adler I, p. 45; Borbo de Moraes I, p. 136; Nissen ZBI, 761; Casey Wood, p. 273. Not in Sabin.