Contributions to the Natural History of the United States of America

AGASSIZ, Louis. Contributions to the Natural History of the United States of America. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1857-1862. 1st eds. 4tos. 4 Vols. li,452d; [451]-643; xi,301,26;viii, 380,12 pp. Illus., 81 plates. Orig. cloth. Vol. Three rebacked in the original style, some edgewear; occasional faint scattered foxing, else a very good set.
Louis Agassiz (1807-1873) was a Swiss-born natural historian who founded the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard. "Toward the close of his first decade in the United States, [a] work of colossal proportions began to shape itself in Agassiz's brain. This was to consist of Contributions to the Natural History of the United States, in ten volumes, each complete in itself. The response to an appeal for public subscription was astounding, 25,000 people promising to buy the set at a rate of twelve dollars a volume. Four only were finally completed, and of these only Part I, the Essay on Classification, had popular interest, the rest being of a highly specialized character. The Essay Marcou regards as 'by far the most important contribution of Agassiz to natural history during his life in America,' more exactly, to the philosophical aspects of the subject. But its most valuable point is the recognition that 'the changes which animals undergo during their embryonic growth coincide with the order of succession of the fossils of the same type in past geological ages.' ... The four large quarto issues of Contributions to the Natural History of the United States included (besides the Essay on Classification) an exhaustive study of the embryology of American turtles... as well as two volumes on 'radiate' animals, all four illustrated by many extremely fine plates. These monographs constitute Agassiz's last elaborate additions to biological knowledge. The ravages of ill health, added to increasing absorption in other interests, put a stop to further undertakings in the great series projected" - DAB.
The 81 full-page plates, some folding and many in color, were drawn not only with great detail but also with great beauty. Volume Two is devoted to plates of turtles and turtle embryology. The other plates are of acalephs in great detail.