Copenhague, Schultz, 1817. Quarto (25.2 x 20.2 cm). Title page, 287 pp.; 22 engraved plates. Contemporary half calf over tree calf resembling paper boards. Spine with gilt ornaments and title. Yellow endpapers. Marbled edges.

An important early contribution to genus-level systematics of the Mollusca, by the German-Danish zoologist Heinrich Christian Friedrich [here: Chrétien Frédéric] Schumacher (1757-1830). Bivalves were Schumacher's forte, and most plates are entirely devoted to this Class. Schumacher was among the earliest taxonomists entirely dissatisfied by the crude and uninformative system of Linnaeus. Provenance: the bookplate of the medical doctor Philip Brookes Mason (1842-1903) of Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire. "He first devoted himself to the study of botany, later Lepidoptera, then conchology and finally Coleoptera ... [He] had one of the finest and largest natural history collections in the United Kingdom" (Francis). Also with the small stamp of the American malacologist Richard Irwin Johnson (1925-2020) in the top margin of the front free endpaper recto and title. Light wear to corners; spine very neatly rebacked with the old spine laid down carefully. Caprotti II, p. 55 [219]; Francis, P. (2015). Philip Brookes Mason (1842-1903): surgeon, general practitioner and naturalist. Archives of Natural History 42(1). Nissen ZBI, 3775.