Venomous Snakes of Southern India

Madras: Central Survey Office, 1875. First edition.. Some light browning to the rear (blank) side of some plates, a few wrinkles of the tissue guards, a tight and clean copy in near fine condition.. Pp. (1, title page printed in silver and gilt), 12 hand-colored photo-lithographic plates, with captions naming the snakes in Latin, English, Tamil, Telugu, Hindustani, and Canarese, all with the original tissue guards. Later brown full-grain goat-skin leather, lettered in gilt on the front cover, with the original Victorian marbled endpapers preserved inside, small folio (350 x 270 mm). This is likely the rarest book on Indian snakes ever published. The last copy recorded was sold by Christies in 2015. They report only two copies of the work could be traced to the United Kingdom. It may be that only 100 copies of the work were published. Most likely perished in the harsh southern Indian climate. The copy offered came from a collector in UK. No record of this book appears in Kraig Adler’s “Contributions to the History of Herpetology.” Adler reports he could find no biography or obituary for Captain C. C. Sargeaunt. Thus, no entry exists in his “Contributions to the History of Herpetology.” The hand-colored plates are exceptionally well done. A truly rare herpetology book!