Corail

First German edition, 4to (245 x 200 mm), 52, 168pp., copper engraved frontispiece and 46 numbered leaves of plates (of which 6 are folded), Latin name of each item illustrated provided in a cont. hand, early plain paper boards. The first German edition classic text on corals, the original having been published at London in 1755. This expanded edition contains an additional 8 plates not found in the first edition. "Ellis in 1754 had persuaded Ehret, the great botanical artist, to accompany him to Brighton 'there to draw from Nature, whatever the Microscope presented him of those extraordinary Beings'. The book duly contains delicate engravings from these drawings."?Knight. Knight, Zoological Illustration. p. 103.