Beschreibung:

Testacea musei Caesarei Vindobonensis. Vienna: Gerold for Johann P. Kraus, 1780. Folio (422 x 280 mm). Half-title, dedication to the Empress Marie-Therese. Title with emblematic engraved vignette by C. Schuetz, 4 headpieces and 8 tailpieces, 36 illustrations of shells, all engraved by Schuetz, C. Conti and others, 18 fine hand-colored engraved plates of shells by Schuetz or J. Adam after Fr. Fuxeder. Contemporary red morocco gilt, gilt edges. Joints starting with light wear, rubbing to edges. Some minor marginal staining or dust soiling. FIRST FOLIO EDITION. A sumptuous record of the royal shell collection held in Vienna, produced at the instigation of Maria Theresa, Empress of Austria (1717-1780). An earlier edition, in octavo with only a single plate, was published in 1778. "Born's interests and activities extended into fields other than mineralogy and mining... In 1783 Born published Specimen monachologiae, a vicious satire against monks in which the various orders were classified according to a system modeled after Linnaeus (DSB)." See Dance Shell Collecting pp 93-94; Nissen ZBI 470.