The Marine Invertebrates and Fishes of St. Andrews by McIntosh, William C - 1875

Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1875. First edition.

SCARCE BEAUTIFULLY ILLUSTRATED FOLIO VOLUME ON SCOTTISH MARINE LIFE BY NOTED PSYCHIATRIST-BIOLOGIST.

27.5x30 cm blue decorated cloth binding, glit title to spine, pp. vi, 186, 9 plates (6 lithographed in colors by Mintem Bros. and 3 uncolored) with facing descriptive text and 23 vignettes. Tips of comers worn; 3 small pieces of cloth missing from spine; ends of spine frayed; title & preliminary pp. foxed; occasional light foxing to remainder of text and plates; good + in custom archival mylar cover. The book is a review of many of the species collected by the author from St. Andrews Bay in Scotland. The plates and vignettes are based on drawings by McIntosh's sister, Roberta McIntosh, whom he described as being "equally persevering in collecting and in portraying." The plates were engraved for publication by G. H. Ford. Several of the vignettes are whimsical humorous depictions of marine animals.

WILLIAM CARMICHAEL MCINTOSH (1838 -1931) was a native of St Andrews and held a life-long passion for the University. As a child, many of his early mentors were noted University figures and from 1853 to 1857 he attended University classes in science and natural history. He unsuccessfully applied for the post of Professor of Natural (and Civil) History in 1875 before being appointed to the chair in 1882. He remained in post for 35 years until his retirement in 1917. Throughout his life, and particularly from 1882 to 1917, McIntosh made a number of important contributions to the development of the University. Some of the more significant of these were: 1) the reform of natural history teaching in the 1880s and 1890s, establishing good contemporary zoology and botany teaching; 2) Establishing internationally recognised marine biological research at St Andrews, firstly in 1884 the St Andrews Fisheries Laboratory and from 1896 in the Gatty Marine Laboratory; 3) Playing a significant role in the successful campaign to establish a School of Medicine at St Andrews in the 1880s and 1890s; 4) modernizing, reorganizing, expanding and generally championing the University Museum of Natural History; 5) Establishing the University Botanic Garden from 1889. His principal contribution to science was in marine biology. He carried out important early work both in fisheries research and in marine annelid research. He established the St Andrews Fisheries Laboratory in the mid-1880s as the first dedicated marine laboratory in the British Isles: McIntosh is recognised as a pioneer of marine zoology in Britain. He is also important for his pioneering work on marine annelids. His magnum opus, "The British Marine Annelids", was published by the Ray Society in the period 1873 - 1923 and extends to 7 volumes. In recognition of his important scientific work McIntosh received many honors throughout his career. These included the Neill Gold Medal of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1869), the Gold Medal of the Royal Society (of London) (1899), the Linnean Society Medal (1924) and honorary doctorates from Edinburgh University (1912), Oxford University (1918) and Durham University (1924). In addition to his work as a natural historian, McIntosh was also a qualified medical doctor. From his graduation from Edinburgh University in 1860 until his appointment to the chair of natural history at St Andrews in 1882, McIntosh persued successful twin careers in academic zoology and in full-time institutional psychiatry. Between 1860 and 1863 he worked as assistant physician under Dr Lauder Lindsay at Murray's Royal Asylum in Perth. From 1863 he held the major position of Medical Superintendent at Murthly Hospital, Perthshire.