‎"NILSSON, SVEN.‎
‎Illuminerade figurer till Skandinaviens fauna. Första Bandet (Vol. 1 out of 2).‎

‎Lund, Berling, 1832. Folio. (257 x 195 mm). In contemporary half calf with four raised bands and gilt lettering and ornamentation to spine. The text-leaves are brownspotted, some leaves evenly browned due to different paper quality. All plates are fine and clean. (148) pp. 100 handcoloured plates. ‎

Reference : 63466

‎First edition (of volume 1 only) of Nilsson’s beautifully illustrated classic of Swedish zoological literature. Originally published in 20 parts where 10 of the plates were executed by Magnus and Wilhelm von Wright and 190 by Magnus Körner. The present work is particularly notable for its finely hand coloured plates with detailed representations of Scandinavian birds and mammals. The illustrations were intended to complement Nilsson’s monumental “Skandinavisk fauna” his comprehensive survey of the Scandinavias animal life and reflect the growing 19th-century interest in the systematic documentation of local fauna. Nilsson’s work was influential not only in zoology but also in the development of Scandinavian natural history and ornithology and he is regarded as one of the founders of modern Swedish zoological research. Swedish zoologist Sven Nilsson (1787–1883) was one of the leading Scandinavian naturalists of the 19th century. Nilsson was professor of zoology and director of the Zoological Museum at Lund and his systematic studies of the Scandinavian fauna was seminal in establishing modern zoological classification in Sweden. Nissen, Vögel 678. Anker 365. Wood p. 493: ""A fine example of zoological atlas with descriptive text.""‎