JEFFREYS, John Gwyn. British Conchology, or an Account of the Mollusca which now Inhabit the British Isles and the Surrounding Seas.
JEFFREYS, John Gwyn. British Conchology, or an Account of the Mollusca which now Inhabit the British Isles and the Surrounding Seas. [[bmid:2125790a]]
JEFFREYS, John Gwyn. British Conchology, or an Account of the Mollusca which now Inhabit the British Isles and the Surrounding Seas. [[bmid:2125790b]]
JEFFREYS, John Gwyn. British Conchology, or an Account of the Mollusca which now Inhabit the British Isles and the Surrounding Seas. [[bmid:2125790c]]
JEFFREYS, John Gwyn. British Conchology, or an Account of the Mollusca which now Inhabit the British Isles and the Surrounding Seas. [[bmid:2125790d]]
JEFFREYS, John Gwyn. British Conchology, or an Account of the Mollusca which now Inhabit the British Isles and the Surrounding Seas. [[bmid:2125790e]]
JEFFREYS, John Gwyn. British Conchology, or an Account of the Mollusca which now Inhabit the British Isles and the Surrounding Seas. [[bmid:2125790f]]
JEFFREYS, John Gwyn. British Conchology, or an Account of the Mollusca which now Inhabit the British Isles and the Surrounding Seas. [[bmid:2125790g]]
JEFFREYS, John Gwyn. British Conchology, or an Account of the Mollusca which now Inhabit the British Isles and the Surrounding Seas. [[bmid:2125790h]]

JEFFREYS, John Gwyn. British Conchology, or an Account of the Mollusca which now Inhabit the British Isles and the Surrounding Seas.

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Presented by the Author to His Children

JEFFREYS, John Gwyn. British Conchology, or an Account of the Mollusca which now Inhabit the British Isles and the Surrounding Seas. London: John van Voorst. 1862-69.

Five volumes, 8vo. Original purple cloth with gilt lettering to spines; vol. I: pp. cxiv, 341, [1], [16 (advertisements)]; vol. II: pp. xiv, 465, [1], [16 (advertisements)]; vol. III: pp. [2], 393, [1]; vol. IV: pp. [2], 486, [2], [2 (advertisements)]; vol. V: pp. [2], 258, [2], [10 (advertisements)]; with 5 hand-coloured lithographed frontispieces and 142 lithographed plates; spines chipped to heads and feet, with loss to vols I, IV and V, bindings tender particularly in vol I, generally internally clean.

A first edition set inscribed by the author to two of his children.

John Gwyn Jeffreys (1809–1885) was a Swansea-born barrister whose main love was conchology. He was more than a gentleman collector. Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1840, he retired from the law in 1866 to pursue dredging operations on his yacht Osprey in the scientific search for malacological specimens. His five-volume British Conchology was considered to be the best book on the subject at the time, although Jeffrey’s expertise later spread far into the eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean.

Provenance: the versos of the front free pastedowns of the first four volumes are each inscribed in ink by Jeffreys to two of his six children, Howel (1844–1917) and Edith (1847–1946). Howel, the only son, followed his father into the law.

[offered with:]

JEFFREYS, John Gwyn. British Conchology, or an Account of the Mollusca which now inhabit the British Isles and the surrounding seas. London: John van Voorst. 1862–69.

Five volumes, 8vo. Original purple cloth with gilt lettering to spines; vol. I: pp. cxiv, 341, [1]; vol. II: pp. xiv, 465, [1]; vol. III: pp. [2], 393, [1]; vol. IV: pp. [2], 486, [2]; vol. V: pp. [2], 258, [2]; with 5 hand-coloured lithographed frontispieces and 142 lithographed plates (including 102 hand-coloured); bindings a little rubbed, a very good set.

Another first edition set, in variant binding, with the scarce 102 hand-coloured plates in volume V, usually found uncoloured.

Nissen 2103.

SKU: 2125790