The Herpetological Contributions of Giorgio Jan (1791-1866) With an Introduction, Annotated Bibliography, Synopsis of Herpetological Taxa, and a Comprehensive Guide to the "Iconographie Générale des Ophidiens"

About this book

Giorgio Jan (1791–1866) undertook one of the most ambitious herpetological projects of all time – to monograph and illustrate the world’s snake fauna. The result was the Iconographie Générale des Ophidiens (1860–1881), the most comprehensive, and still one of the most useful of all illustrated works on snakes. This facsimile reprint of the Iconographie includes Ferdinando Sordelli’s 300 plates with more than 8500 individual figures depicting 953 species of snakes, as well as all of the original wrappers as issued with the 50 livraisons comprising the work as a whole. Also included are the facsimiles of 22 additional publications by Jan, constituting his entire herpetological output. These include Jan’s plan and prodromus for the Iconographie, several family-level monographs meant to accompany the Iconographie, and his most extensive text, Elenco Sistematico degli Ofidi Descritti e Disegnati per l’Iconografia Generale (1863), as well as 23 additional plates. 

This publication also features 168 pages of new material by renowned herpetologists and bibliophiles Jay M. Savage and Roy W. McDiarmid. This includes historical background and an annotated bibliography of Giorgio Jan, as well as synopses of the taxa recognised and described by Jan, the authorship of names in the Iconographie, and much more. The global scope of Jan’s work and the invaluable Comprehensive Guide by Savage and McDiarmid make this a book that belongs on every herpetologist’s shelf.

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