Abbildungen und Beschreibungen neuer und seltener Thiere und Pflanzen, in Syrien und westlichen Taurus gesammelt. I. Illustrationes et descriptiones plantarum novarum Syriae et Tauri occidentalis. (von E.Fenzl). II. Illustrationes et descriptiones coleopterorum. (von L.Redtenbacher). III. Abbildungen und Beschreibungen der Fische Syriens (von J.J.Heckel). [Atlas]. -

Stuttgart, E. Schweizerbart 1843. Folio (37.5 x 26.7 cm). 45 engraved and lithographed plates of which one tinted and two finely hand-coloured. Handwritten title. Contemporary board. Green morocco label with gilt title on the spine.= This is the complete atlas of a very rare work, which combined the description and illustration of new and rare plants (by E. Fenzl, with 20 engraved plates), new and rare fish (by J. J. Heckel, with 23 plates, including one tinted lithographed plate of fossil fishes), and new and seldom seen beetles (by L. Redtenbacher, with the two hand-coloured plates). Kotschy collected all the material, but apparently the other natural history material never became a subject of publication. Kotschy und Russegger reisten zusammen und scheinbar wurden die Tafeln zu den Pflanzen und den Tieren von beiden in Ihren Werken verwendet. Russegger hat in seinem Atlasband zu seinen „Reisen in Europa, Asien und Afrika mit besonderer Rücksicht auf die naturwissenschaftlichen Verhältnisse der betroffenen Länder, unternommen in den Jahren 1835-41.“ Auch bei Schweizerbart erschienen, die selben Tafeln dabei. Für Kotschy´s separater Publikation gilt: sowohl Text- als auch dieser Tafelband sind extrem selten! The Austrian Karl Georg Theodor Kotschy (1813-1866) was a naturalist, botanist and explorer. ".From 1836 to 1862 he performed extensive botanical research throughout the Middle East and northern Africa, in which he collected over 300,000 botanical specimens. Beginning in 1836, he accompanied geologist Joseph Russegger (1802-1863) on a scientific trip to Cilicia and Syria, afterwards journeying through Nubia and Sennar. Following the dissolution with Russegger's expedition, he remained in Egypt. He later traveled to Kordufan (1839), Cyprus, Syria, Mesopotamia and Kurdistan (1840-41); and during 1842-43 he undertook an expedition to Persia. Later he performed botanical investigations in Egypt, Palestine and Lebanon (1855); and also in Cyprus, Asia Minor and Kurdistan (1859). In 1862 he performed additional botanical research in Cyprus and Syria" (Wikipedia). In this copy, the Coleoptera are placed last. There is no title page. Also, the descriptive text, which was published in octavo, is not present. The atlas, however, seems to be rarer. Weak dampstain to the very outer margin of the botany section; otherwise a very good, clean copy. Nissen BBI, 1093 (Kotschy, Fenzl); Nissen ZBI, 1870 (Heckel) and 3327 (Redtenbacher).