Grotesque Animals, Invented, Drawn, and Described, Entwickelungsgeschichte

London: Longmans, Green, and Co, 1872. Cloth. Very good +. [ILLUSTRATED] [HUMOR] [FICTION]. Spottiswoode and Co., New-Street Square and Parliament Street, London, printers.

4to (12 5/8" x 10"); [48] leaves printed one side only; green pebbled cloth over beveled board, gilt stamped lettering and vignette of an imaginary "grotesque" animal on the front; all edges gilt; pale yellow endpapers, old neat hinge reinforcement front and rear; vignette of a fanciful animal on title page; 24 b&w plates reproduced from the original drawing by autotype with a description on facing page; board edges and corners rubbed, eps foxed but interior clean and tight, light age-toning to page edges, a few fingerprints; very good plus. The fabulous imagination of Edward William Cooke (1811-1880) in a book. Cooke was part of a family of engravers and artists, and a noted landscape and marine painter. He was a contemporary of Charles Darwin (1809-1882) and certainly influenced by Darwin's voyage and the writings of his discoveries. With a poke at natural history, he places the word "Entwickelungsgeschichte," (German for "Developmental History") before the title. This humorous collection of drawings of imaginary animals is accompanied by brief, equally humorous, descriptions.