Cunningham, Robert O.

First edition. 8vo. pp. xvii, 517; folding map, frontis. and four other tinted lithos., 16 natural historical b&w lithos.; some heavy foxing to tinted lithos. (as usual), else VG in the original cloth, gilt, small dent to upper board.

Spence 331. The H.M.S. Nassau survey expedition of 1866-9, commanded by Richard Mayne, included the Scottish naturalist Robert Oliver Cunningham on the scientific staff. Recommended to the position by J. D. Hooker, Cunningham had a particular interest in birds, but also collected botanical specimens, and fossils at the request of Charles Darwin (who had himself visited the area on the Beagle in the 1830s). Cunningham’s informal journal of the expedition includes details of the specimens collected, but also of his experiences of the expedition, with descriptions of the region and its peoples.