The Genera Vermium Exemplified by Various Specimens of the Animals Contained in the Orders of the Intestina et Mollusca Linnæi. Drawn from Nature

London: Printed for the Author by James Dixwell, in St. Martin's Lane. And sold by John Sewell, Bookseller in Cornhill; B. White and Son, Fleet Street; and P. Elmsley in the Strand, 1788. Two volumes in one. 4to. (10 1/2 x 8 inches). Part I: [6] [i]-xx [1]-101. Part II: [2] [i]-xxvii [1] [1]-76. 234 pp. Part I: Engraved frontispiece, Title, List of subscribers, Apology, Preface, Index, Text, Index. Part II: Volume title, Preface, Explanation of the plates, List of subscribers, Text. 27 plates across two volumes, 24 hand-colored natural history engravings mainly of shells and molluscs by James Newton, T. Woodman, H. Mutlow, and J. Taylor after Barbut, plus one engraved frontispiece, one engraved volume title, and one engraved plate printed black at rear. Text in French and English running parallel. Modern brown buckram quarter cloth over 19th-century patterned marbled boards with gilt-lettered title and author on spine, on laid paper

First edition example of a beautifully illustrated hand-colored eighteenth-century work on shells and molluscs.

Running through this work is Barbut's enthusiasm for Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778), the Swedish botanist who formalized binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming organisms, which is still used today. At times, Barbut's enthusiasm for his subject matter went from merely embracing the Linnaean system to fanaticism: "When we consider the station of animals which inhabit the deep, we need not wonder that this part of nature has not been thoroughly illustrated. The immortal Linnaeus with infinite judgment, has exhibited an arrangement of the testaceous animal, which is certainly the most scientific method, and though certain persons have taken the liberty to criticize the works of this wonderful man, they are much inferior to him in brilliancy of wit and fidelity of judgment, as a glow worm is to the evening star." Barbut was a British naturalist and painter, specializing in still life paintings. He exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in London from 1777-1786, with shells and marine themes recurring in his works. This work contains illustrations by Barbut, who was a well-regarded artist. The illustrations are strikingly well done. It also includes work by several other notable illustrators and engravers, as does the second part. Two of those represented in this work, Henry Mutlow and Thomas Woodman, worked in partnership, being engravers of banknotes and maps. Mutlow was also the Engraver to the King. Engraver James Newton was well known for his portraits, genre scenes, and landscapes. Newton produced several portraits of important members of the Royal Society in the late 1770s. His most famous was a portrait of Sydney Parkinson, the brilliant young Scottish botanical illustrator and natural history artist who accompanied Sir Joseph Banks and James Cook on the voyage of the HMS Endeavour. Newton's portrait is only one of two known portraits of Parkinson to exist. A concluding quote from Barbut's shows his dedication to his work and his belief in a higher purpose behind scientific description of the natural world: "Let us take a nearer view of them, and our admiration will increase as our ignorance wears away; and the mind shall become illumined, and in the holy exaltation of our hearts, we shall cry aloud, O God, how wondrous are thy works!"

BM (NH), Vol.I, p.97. Davies, "Barbut's the Genera Vermium," James Cook University. ESTC T87001, T87005. Nissen ZBI 221. OCLC 10174474. Soulsby 108.