KLEIN, Jacob Theodor
Historiae piscium naturalis promovendae missus primus. De lapillis, eorumque numero in craniis piscium, cum praefatione: De piscium auditu
Gdansk, Litteris Schreiberianis, 1740
1 vol., 4to, no binding, [2] + 35 p., 6 plates; good copy, clean text and plates
First edition. First part (of 5) of Klein’s Historiae Piscium Naturalis, dedicated to the Royal Society, in which he focuses on understanding the auditory capacity of cartilaginous and spinose fishes. The Prussian naturalist and zoologist Jacob Theodor Klein (1685-1759) moved to Danzig in 1713 to work in the service of the Polish king August II the Strong. Using his position as secretary of Danzig and with the help of other scholars, he was able to set up one of the largest botanical gardens of its time. Klein also made important contributions to the study of amphibians, publishing his book Tentamen Herpetologiae in 1755 and thus coining the term ‘herpetology’.
