Memoir on the Pearly Nautilus (Nautilus pompilius, Linn) with Illustrations on its External Form and Internal Structure

Pp. (4), 2-68; 8 full page monochrome lithographed plates (15 total lithographs - many are two-page, all tissue-guards are present).  Publisher’s original reddish-brown moiré cloth, with original black leather spine label lettered in gilt, lg 4to.  This is the first monograph that Richard Owen published.  According to DSB X, p. 261, "The attention of the scientific community was first focused on Owen in 1832 when he published “Memoir on the Pearly Nautilus...” which was based on a single specimen of this delicate organism that was previously known only by its shell.  In this superb piece of descriptive anatomy, he also modified Cuvier's Cephalopoda and proposed two orders that were considered valid until 1894."  Signature of herpetologist Lauren E. Brown on the front endpaper.  Rare in the original binding.