[Natural History] Actinologia Britannica. A History of the British Sea Anemones and Corals. With Coloured Figures of the Species and Principal Varieties [Unrecorded binding variant]

London: Van Voorst, Paternoster Row, 1860. Decorative Cloth. Near Fine+. First and only hardcover edition of Gosse's finest work, marking a "major advance in natural history book illustration intended for the mass market." (ODNB). Tall 8vo: xl,362,[2],8pp (pp 7-10 are cancels), complete with 12 tissue-guarded plates (11 of which are chromolithographs) by William Dickes, woodcuts in text, erratum slip tipped in at p. 1. Publisher's original unrecorded textured green cloth binding (similar to but distinct from "Case A" in Freeman & Wertheimer), gilt lettering and seaweed decoration to covers and spine, covers elaborately paneled in blind. A superb recased copy, binding tight and secure, faint lilac stamp of Barnsley Naturalists' Society to half-title and margins of plates, mild offsetting but generally excellent, clean condition throughout. Nissen 1641. Freeman (Natural History Books) 1390. Freeman & Wertheimer 108. Bibliotheca Bibliographici 2438. First issued in 12 monthly parts, from 1858 to 1860. Gosse was a naturalist, popularizer, inventor of the sea-water aquarium, and innovator in the study of marine biology. British Sea Anemones and Corals came late in his career. Reviewers especially praised the color lithographs made from Gosse's own watercolors. The Literary Gazette called Gosse "alone and unrivalled in the extremely difficult art of drawing objects of zoology so as to satisfy the requirements of science" as well as provide "vivid aesthetic impressions." Sotherans calls the plates "simultaneously meticulous, accurate and, partly due to the work of the printer Dickes, eerily beautiful." N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, carefully preserved in archival, removable mylar sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.).