THE DATES OF ISSUE OF J. E. GRAY'S "ILLUSTRATIONS OF INDIAN ZOOLOGY" (London, 1830—1835)

Abstract

This work was issued in twenty undated parts during the years 1830-1835, each part containing ten coloured plates of vertebrate animals, named by J. E. Gray, many of which were new to science. Most existing copies are without wrappers, arranged systematically, and bound in two volumes according to the instructions issued with parts XI and XX. In 1924 Sir Norman Kinnear was fortunate enough to acquire a copy of the work in the original wrappers. Although they are undated, by obtaining the dates when these parts were currently received in the libraries of the East India Company and the Linnean Society of London he was able to work out the dates of issue of the bird plates ; where the date of receipt varies the earlier date is quoted. The results of this investigation were published by Sir Norman in the Ibis 1925 and subsequently he presented this copy of the Illustrations to the Zoological Library of the British Museum (Natural History). A number of inquiries received over the course of years concerning animals, other than birds, first figured and named in this work seems to render it worth while to set out the dates of issue of all the published plates. The use made of Sir Norman Kinnear's investigations is gratefully acknowledged as is the most interesting account of the history of the publication of these plates, by W. R. Dawson (1946).