GODMAN, Frederick DuCane and Osbert SALVIN, editors. -- MAUDSLEY, A. P. Biologia Centrali-Americana: Contributions to the Knowledge of the Fauna and Flora of Mexico and Central America Archaeology. London: R. H. Porter, February 1889-August 1902.

16 original parts (numbered 1-7 and 9-17, as usual), oblong folio (332 x 510 mm). 393 vies, maps, plans and details of archaeological remains and artifacts (including the alternative plate 49 in volume I), mostly autotypes after Maudsley or H. N. Sweet, and lithographs, a few hand-colored, colored, or tinted, several folding or double-page. 4 letterpress title-pages and 4 letterpress contents leaves bound into volume XVII. (A few double-page plates separated along fold, some chipping or marginal tears to a few leaves very occasionally touching the plate, some soiling.) In original boards (most spines perished or repaired, some soiling and repairs). Provenance: The John Crerar Library, University of Chicago (bookplates, stamps, perforated stamps on letterpress title-pages).

FIRST EDITION of the plate volumes of this gentleman adventurer's record of the Mayan ruins. Although the principal part of Godman and Salvin's work is devoted to the fauna and flora of the region, Godman felt that Maudsley's excavations and his photographs "made a valuable addition to our knowledge of the country." The complete work was issued over a long span of time starting in 1879, spanning 36 years and comprising some 240 parts. The Archaeology parts were included in consequence of Maudslay's excavations. Every copy of this work we trace at auction includes the same numbered parts as the present copy (numbers 1-7 and 9-17) and are all apparently lacking volume 8. The plates present in this set correspond with the plate counts called for by the contents leaves for each volume bound into part 17, and therefore the set is apparently complete.