KOCH, Albrecht C. (1804-1867)

[Sea Serpent] [Moby Dick] Reise durch einen Theil der Vereinigten Staaten von Nordamerika in den Jahren 1844 bis 1846 [A trip through a part of the United States in the years 1844 to 1846]

Dresden und Leipzig: Arnoldische Buchhandlung, 1847. Quarter-Morocco. Scarce First Edition of this detailed account of a trip in search of the gigantic sea serpent, Zeuglodon. Text in German. Demy 8vo (225 x 145mm): [6],162pp, with frontispiece of dinosaur skeleton, hand-colored geological profile of the Gulf Coast, and advertisement leaf not mentioned in bibliographies. Recent quarter tan morocco over marbled boards, spine lettered in gilt, end papers renewed. Toning to first and final few pages, scattered dust-soiling (especially to deckled edges), but a very presentable copy in fine binding. Howes K234, Sabin 38198. Buck 391, Flake 4676. Streeter 850. Near Fine. Item #BB2639

In 1844, Koch, an obscure paleontologist who had emigrated to the United States in 1826 from Saxony, began the remarkable journey recounted in this day-by-day record. Koch operated an archeology museum in St. Louis, in the 1830s and 1840s, while also excavating fossil skeletons throughout North America. In 1840, he discovered the skeleton of a mastodon, which he dubbed “Missourium” and exhibited (after adding vertebrae from other animals) in his museum before taking it on tour to the East Coast and Europe. The fraud was quickly discovered and criticized by scientists on both sides of the Atlantic, obscuring Koch's major accomplishment: he was first to pronounce the contemporaneity of the mastodon and humans in the Americas. His travels recorded here took him by land and water from Martha's Vineyard to New Orleans and Alabama in search of the Zeuglodon, which he finally found in Alabama, in 1845. He baptized the 114 feet-long skeleton “Hydrarchos” and showed it on Broadway, in New York. In the pamphlet that accompanied his exhibition Koch links the creature to the biblical accounts of Leviathan, an association that may have inspired Herman Melville’s account of the fossil whale in Moby-Dick. N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, with dust jackets carefully preserved in archival, removable mylar sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.).

Price: $649.00