The Spiders of Dorset, with an Appendix containing short descriptions of those British species not yet found in Dorsetshire Vols I & II

A good to very good copy of this extremely scarce work. Octavius Pickard-Cambridge (1828-1917) was a clergyman with a strong interest in zoology and, clearly, a passion for spiders. The work consists of 2 volumes, bound in one, with separate title pages dated 1879 and 1881. It is bound in a contemporary half leather binding which is sound and clean but with a lot of surface scuffing and surface loss to the leather. The spine has gilt titles and gilt lines. The surface loss is mainly at the spine ends. The corners have rubbed edges. The boards are cobbled cloth: there are a couple of reddened areas on the front board; the back board has very slight pale marking. Contents: Title; half title to part I with an ink note stating 'nomenclature corrected 1950'; preface pp i-iv; introduction pp i-xlii; text pp 1-235; 3 black and white plates with 4 pp of explanations; title Vol II; dedication to John Blackwall; half title Part II published April 1881; contents list; text pp 237-417; Appendix A species added since 1879 pp 418-457; Appendix B Spiders in GB not yet found in Dorset pp 458-569; Appendix C Additional notes pp 570-581; Additional Remarks pp 582-598; Synopsis and systematic list pp 599-625; 3 black and white plates with 5 pp of text; general index pp i-xi; errata and corrigenda 4 pp. There are decorative head and tailpieces throughout. There are ink corrections to the naming as per the note on the half title to Vol I. The contents are very clean with the occasional small mark. There is some spotting and light toning which is mainly at the page edge and becomes more prevalent at the end of Vol II, including the 3 plates in that volume. There is a small hole in the gutter of index leaf v/vi. Please enquire if you would like to see additional images.…