Deane, James (1801-1858) Ichnographs from the Sandstone of Connecticut River

Description:

Deane, James (1801-1858) Ichnographs from the Sandstone of Connecticut River. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1861.
First edition, large quarto, sixty-one pages of text followed by forty-six plates, the first fifteen are lithographs based on Deane's drawings; plates sixteen through forty-six are salted-paper photographic prints; bound in the original textured cloth binding, with the title stamped in gold on the front board.
James Deane, of Greenfield, Massachusetts, was a surgeon who became interested in the trace footprints of extinct animals found fossilized in a quarry near his home. Determined to study and document these trace fossils, he worked closely with an unknown photographer to create these "ichnographs", which he describes as "exquisite specimens of art". This is one of the first scientific works printed in America illustrated with photographic prints.
Estimate $400-600

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