San Francisco, CA, California Academy of Sciences, 1922. Two volumes in two. Large 8vo (26.5 x 18.0 cm). 1,028 pp.; 128 plain plates. Uniform, near contemporary red buckram. Spines with gilt titles.

A rare fine, bound set of this important monograph on the reptiles of California and adjacent regions, dealing with a zoogeographical rather than a geopolitical unit. This is the magnum opus of the American herpetologist John Van Denburgh (1872-1924). According to Adler, "As Holbrook's 'North American Herpetology' (1842) did for eastern North America, Van Denburgh's magnum opus 'The Reptiles of Western North America,' in two large volumes (1922), laid the foundation for the present-day herpetological studies in the American West". The illustrations - on glossy paper - and descriptions are excellent, and so are these copies: without any markings whatsoever. Neatly bound, which is rather exceptional. The spines are a bit sunned but that is the only 'defect'. Adler I, pp. 72-73; Cat. BM(NH) Supplement, p. 1355; Crane Library, AC93.