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Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg (1795-1876) & Wilhelm Hemprich
Symbolae physicae seu icones et descriptiones corporum naturalium... quae ex itineribus per Libyam Aegyptum Nubiam Dongalam Syriam Arabiam et Habessiniam publico institutis sumptu... Hemprich et... Ehrenberg... studio annis... [1820-1825] redierunt... Pars Zoologica I. Berlin: ex officina Academica, sold by Mittler, 1828-1830. 2 parts in two volumes (all published), 2° (486 x 343mm). 20 fine hand-coloured plates by Friedrich Leopold Bürde (17 lithographs, 1 engraving) or after Schmidt by Wilhelm Müler (2 lithographs). (Plates XV-XX stained at outer margin, plate XI browned, plate XIV shaved with slight loss to numbering, some spotting or old staining to text.) Later red morocco-backed cloth, spines gilt in six compartments with raised bands, lettered in the second, original wrappers bound in (wrappers torn, repaired and laminated on versos).
A rare work, with excellent plates of the complete set of reports on the mammals encountered by Ehrenberg and Hemprich during Count Heinrich von Menu von Minutoli's expedition to Egypt. The plates are excellent, and the best of them (by Friedrich Bürde of Breslau, 1792-1849) bear comparison with the work of Audubon in America, particularly the two plates of squirrels. Ehrenberg was encouraged to study natural history by Karl Rudolphi and Heinrich Link. He became a doctor of medicine in 1818, but 'Ehrenberg's scientific career took a decisive turn in 1820 when he was presented with the opportuntity to participate in the archaeological expedition of Count Heinrich von Menu von Minutoli, who planned to travel in Egypt. With a friend from his student days, Wilhelm Hemprich, Ehrenberg joined this expedition, which was advocated by Alexander von Humboldt (then residing in Paris) and by Heinrich Lichtenstein, the director of the university's zoological museum. The expenses of Ehrenberg and Hemprich were financed primarily by the Prussian Academy of Sciences, which also gave instructions for the expedition. The two men were first to study thoroughly the natural history collections in Vienna and consult scientists residing in that city. Therefore, in June 1820, Ehrenberg traveled from Berlin to Vienna and then Trieste, where the party boarded ship for Alexandria on 5 August. The journey led through the Libyan desert to Cyrenaica, to Fayum in 1821, toward the Nile to Dongola, and to the shores of the Red Sea (in 1823) and yielded an unexpectedly large body of scientific results. Of the animal species alone, 3,987 (34,000 individual zoological objects) were sent to the collections of the Berlin Zoological Museum... As for botany, 46,000 plant specimens represented approximately 3,000 species were collected. The poor organization of the journey and its insufficient financing resulted in a considerable loss of time and many privations. Many members of the expedition became seriously ill... Hemprich fell victim to a fever in Massawa shortly before the end of the trip in 1825. Ehrenberg was forced to halt the journey ahead of schedule, without being able to explore the interior of Abyssinia: however, he had already made the littoral observations that were to make him famous as a zoologist.... [After Ehrenberg's return to Germany, via Trieste, and despite the loss of many specimens].. in 1826 he published the plan for a comprehensive work...the first section of which was to contain an account of the expedition, and the second, illustrated descriptions of the individual plants and animals, neither portion was completed...' (DSB IV, p.288). According to the BM(NH) catalogue livraisons of four parts were published under the sub-headings mammals; birds; insects and invertebrates other than insects. BM(NH) II, p.515 (listing all the parts published); Nisssen ZBI 1247; Wood p.330. (2)
Symbolae physicae seu icones et descriptiones corporum naturalium... quae ex itineribus per Libyam Aegyptum Nubiam Dongalam Syriam Arabiam et Habessiniam publico institutis sumptu... Hemprich et... Ehrenberg... studio annis... [1820-1825] redierunt... Pars Zoologica I. Berlin: ex officina Academica, sold by Mittler, 1828-1830. 2 parts in two volumes (all published), 2° (486 x 343mm). 20 fine hand-coloured plates by Friedrich Leopold Bürde (17 lithographs, 1 engraving) or after Schmidt by Wilhelm Müler (2 lithographs). (Plates XV-XX stained at outer margin, plate XI browned, plate XIV shaved with slight loss to numbering, some spotting or old staining to text.) Later red morocco-backed cloth, spines gilt in six compartments with raised bands, lettered in the second, original wrappers bound in (wrappers torn, repaired and laminated on versos).
A rare work, with excellent plates of the complete set of reports on the mammals encountered by Ehrenberg and Hemprich during Count Heinrich von Menu von Minutoli's expedition to Egypt. The plates are excellent, and the best of them (by Friedrich Bürde of Breslau, 1792-1849) bear comparison with the work of Audubon in America, particularly the two plates of squirrels. Ehrenberg was encouraged to study natural history by Karl Rudolphi and Heinrich Link. He became a doctor of medicine in 1818, but 'Ehrenberg's scientific career took a decisive turn in 1820 when he was presented with the opportuntity to participate in the archaeological expedition of Count Heinrich von Menu von Minutoli, who planned to travel in Egypt. With a friend from his student days, Wilhelm Hemprich, Ehrenberg joined this expedition, which was advocated by Alexander von Humboldt (then residing in Paris) and by Heinrich Lichtenstein, the director of the university's zoological museum. The expenses of Ehrenberg and Hemprich were financed primarily by the Prussian Academy of Sciences, which also gave instructions for the expedition. The two men were first to study thoroughly the natural history collections in Vienna and consult scientists residing in that city. Therefore, in June 1820, Ehrenberg traveled from Berlin to Vienna and then Trieste, where the party boarded ship for Alexandria on 5 August. The journey led through the Libyan desert to Cyrenaica, to Fayum in 1821, toward the Nile to Dongola, and to the shores of the Red Sea (in 1823) and yielded an unexpectedly large body of scientific results. Of the animal species alone, 3,987 (34,000 individual zoological objects) were sent to the collections of the Berlin Zoological Museum... As for botany, 46,000 plant specimens represented approximately 3,000 species were collected. The poor organization of the journey and its insufficient financing resulted in a considerable loss of time and many privations. Many members of the expedition became seriously ill... Hemprich fell victim to a fever in Massawa shortly before the end of the trip in 1825. Ehrenberg was forced to halt the journey ahead of schedule, without being able to explore the interior of Abyssinia: however, he had already made the littoral observations that were to make him famous as a zoologist.... [After Ehrenberg's return to Germany, via Trieste, and despite the loss of many specimens].. in 1826 he published the plan for a comprehensive work...the first section of which was to contain an account of the expedition, and the second, illustrated descriptions of the individual plants and animals, neither portion was completed...' (DSB IV, p.288). According to the BM(NH) catalogue livraisons of four parts were published under the sub-headings mammals; birds; insects and invertebrates other than insects. BM(NH) II, p.515 (listing all the parts published); Nisssen ZBI 1247; Wood p.330. (2)
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