Hydraires provenant des campagnes de l'Hirondelle (1886-1888); Fascicule XVIII, Resultats des Campagnes Sceintifiques Accomplis sur son Yacht par Albert 1er Prince Souverain de Monaco

Monaco: Imprimerie de Monaco, 1900. First edition.

LARGE FOLIO MONOGRAPH ON MARINE INVERTEBRATES COLLECTED IN 1886-1888, PRINTED BY ALBERT I, PRINCE OF MONACO, ILLUSTRATED WITH FINE LITHOGRAPHS, SIGNED BY AUTHOR.

Large folio, 11 x 14 inches tall printed transparent paper wraps over card covers which include the coat-of-arms of the Prince of Monaco. Gray tape binding, text printed on heavy rag paper, 55 pp, bibliographic index, 10 lithographed plates with tisue guards. Text in French. Cover edges with edge tears, light soiling, small institutional handstamp lower front cover, inscribed front free endpaper "a Monsieur Alphonse Picket/ Hommage respectueux/ M. Bedot"; text clean and unmarked, plates bright and clean with only scattered light marginal foxing, overall very good, in custom archival mylar cover. This monograph is a fine example of late 19th century marine biology, with detailed descriptions and magnificent lithographs. It forms part of a series of scientific reports on marine life collected by Albert the 1st, Sovereign Prince of Monaco, collected from his yacht, Hirondelle. The report was printed under the direction of Prince Albert, with the approval of Jules Richard, doctor of science, chief of zoologic studies.

ALBERT I, PRINCE OF MONACO (1848 – 1922) devoted much of his life to the study of the sea and oceans. At only 22 years old, he embarked on a career in the then relatively new science of oceanography. Understanding the importance of the relationship between living creatures and their environment, he devised a number of techniques and instruments for measurement and exploration. He founded the Oceanographic Institute Foundation Albert I, Prince of Monaco, a private foundation established in 1906. It has two buildings: The Oceanographic Institute of Paris, now renamed Ocean House, and what became the world-renowned Oceanographic Museum of Monaco. This includes an aquarium, a museum, and a library, with research facilities in Paris. He owned four research yachts, Hirondelle, Princesse Alice, Princesse Alice II and Hirondelle II. Accompanied by some of the world's leading marine scientists, he travelled the length and breadth of the Mediterranean, making numerous oceanographic studies, maps and charts. In 1918, the US National Academy of Sciences awarded Prince Albert its Alexander Agassiz Medal for his achievements. The Explorers Club elected Albert I to its highest category of membership — Honorary Member — in 1921.

CAMILLE PICTET (1864 - 1893) was a Swiss zoologist, and studied in Carl Vogt's microscopy laboratory and at marine biology stations in Roscoff (Brittany), Villefranche-sur-Mer (Provence), Nice and Naples.

MAURICE BEDOT (1859-1927) was a Swiss zoologist, specializing in hydrozoans--small predatory animals, some solitary and some colonial, most living in salt water. The colonies of the colonial species can be large, and in some cases the specialized individual animals cannot survive outside the colony. A few genera within this class live in fresh water. Hydrozoans are related to jellyfish and corals and belong to the phylum Cnidaria.