Recherches sur la faune de Madagascar et de ses Dépendances, d'apres les découvertes de Fr. P. C. Pollen et D. van Dam. 4me Partie. Poissons de Madagascar et de l'Ile de la Réunion des collections de MM. Pollen et Van Dam. [AND] Les pêches a Madagascar et es dépendances.

Leyde (Leiden), E. J. Brill, 1875. 4to (29.2 x 21.2 cm). Half-title and title to Bleeker and Pollen, title to Pollen; 195 pp. (104, [ii], 89); 27 fine, hand-coloured lithographed plates, including one map (of Mayotte), one portrait (of Antoine Rétout "Le grand Amateur-Pêcheur Créole à l'île de la Réunion"), and four plates showing fisheries and fishing techniques (from the Relation de voyage). Contemporary half morocco over marbled boards. Spine with five raised bands with gilt chains; compartments with gilt vignettes and title. Marbled endpapers. Speckled edges. = Rare part of the zoology of Pollen and Van Dam's travels, dealing with fish and fisheries. Written by the Dutch ichthyologist Pieter Bleeker (1842-1878), who was solely responsible for the taxonomical and systematic part, and François Pollen (1813-1866), who wrote the part on Les pêches a Madagascar et ses dépendances, which, therefore, was published posthumously. Several species are described as new by Bleeker. Pollen's part includes six unnumbered plates, four of which showing fishing techniques in the region. This we have seen before, but they are not recorded in Landwehr, as they actually belong to the Relation de Voyage, as indicated on the plate headers. Three of these plates are rather foxed. The plates are captioned Pêche des femmes malgaches au Symbou, Pêche au parc de roches à Madagascar, Pêche nocturne à la ligne par les Antancars de la côte N. O. de Madagascar, and Pêche nocturne aux requins sur le point de Galets (Ile de la Réunion). A portrait of M. Antoine Rétout Sen[io]r, "le grand amateur-pêcheur Créole à l'île de la Réunion" is different from one we have seen before, viz., mounted on a printed sheet, and without a facsimile autograph. Both versions, however, were made by C. Bos after a photograph, and printed by P. W. M. Trap. Finally, a map of the island of Mayotte is added. Some light, mostly marginal spotting to the plates (nearly always more heavy in parts on Pollen's voyage); text mostly clean. A very good copy. Rare. Dean, p, 138; Landwehr, 18 (under Bleeker and Pollen); Nissen Schöne Fischbücher, 21; Nissen ZBI, 3215 (under Pollen).