A Natural History of the Crinoidea, Lily-Shaped Animals; with observations on the Genera, Asteria, Euryale, Comatula & Marsupites

Description:

Privately published by subscription (there are 127 names on the Subscribers List, some of whom are indicated as having placed a subscription for more than one copy). The author states in the preface, '..applying the slender talent of drawing I possessed, to executing myself the necessary illustrations in a series of Lithographical Plates, as the only mode in which a private individual could bring forward such an undertaking...'

John Samuel Miller [formerly Johann Samuel Müller] (1779-1830) was a naturalist and museum curator. A native of Danzig, Germany, he emigrated to England in 1801, settled in Bristol, and anglicized his name. In 1823 Miller was appointed first curator of the Bristol Institution, a post he held until his death. He was interested in a range of natural history topics including geology, botany, and conchology, and published a number of scientific papers, including descriptions of newly discovered species of British molluscs. (ODNB)

The present book, based on Miller’s own research in the Bristol area, is a pioneering study in the field of palaeobiology. Miller first recognized fossilized stalked echinoderms from the 'environs of Bristol' as a distinct group and it was with this work that the formal scientific description and classification of crinoids began.

Freeman, 2590; Nissen ZBI, 2822.

Condition

Imp. 4to, later cloth, gt, edges uncut; 4cm tear to margin of leaf 101-102; very occasional minor foxing. Vg.