Zoology of Captain Beechey's Voyage 1839

December 7, 2020

Lot 337

Zoology of Captain Beechey's Voyage 1839

Estimate: $7,000 - $10,000

Have one like this?

About this Lot

Description

E. Lear, J. Sowerby, and others. F.W. Beechey. The Zoology of Captain Beechey's Voyage ..to the Pacific and Behring's [sic.] Straits. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1839. Quarto. Pp. [i]-xii; [1]-11[12], 9*-13*, [3 pages blank], [13]-180. 44 hand-colored plates after Lear, Sowerby and others, 2 hand-colored engraved maps, 1 folding hand-colored engraved geological sectional profile. 20th-century grey cloth, red/brown leather title label to spine. Rare: Hill notes that a limited number of this work were published. Included are pages 9*-13* being John Richardson's supplemental notes on the mammalia. Hill (2004) 96; Lada-Mocarski 105; Zimmer p.51. (1) (RIJO-A57)(AL) Property From the Estate of Richard I Johnson (1925-2020), Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Mr. Johnson (1925-2020) was a long time Research Associate at Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology, having started as a volunteer while still in high school. He published his first scientific article in 1941, at the age of 16, beginning his life as a gentleman scholar, an amateur with a worldwide scholarly reputation who produced more than 50 papers about malacology. He served in the U.S. Army in World War II, before returning to Massachusetts and graduating from Harvard in 1951. Over six decades Johnson assembled perhaps the largest private collection of books and journals on molluscs, including titles seldom found even in research libraries, each volume identified with a discrete stamp of "Richard I. Johnson" to a preliminary leaf. It was one of the great collections of shell books ever assembled. The first part of his library collection was sold at Bonhams, NY in October, 2020. Litchfield Auctions is pleased to present this second session of works from the collection.

Ask a Question