[DODO] OWEN, RICHARD, with a historical introduction by BRODERIP, WILLIAM JOHN. Memoir of the Dodo
. London: Taylor and Francis, 1866. First edition. Original green patterned cloth, gilt lettered spine, glazed yellow endpapers. 12 3/8 x 9 3/4 inches (31.5 x 24.5 cm); [6], 55 pp., hand-colored lithographic frontispiece and eleven lithographed plates, of which one is hand colored and one is folded, illustrations in text, with letterpress acknowledgment slip pasted to verso of dedication. Fading and staining to cloth, short tear along spine, corners and spine ends bumped, front hinge starting, title page and frontispiece sprung, creasing and a tear to folding plate, a few plates with pale spots and faint toning.

The eminent English biologist Richard Owen and naturalist William Broderip penned this significant historical survey and osteological study of the extinct dodo bird. The highly detailed lithographed plates show dodos in their natural habitat and give a comprehensive illustration of their complete skeletal structure. According to Hume, Cheke & McOran-Campbell (How Owen 'stole' the Dodo..., Historical Biology, 21:1-2, 33-49, 2009), the book had a print run of only one hundred copies, twenty of which were intended for presentation by the author. Nissen IVB, 703; Wood p.509.

C The Collection of Jay I. Kislak sold to benefit the Kislak Family Foundation

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