"PHALANGER DE COOK" mâle, variété albine.
(White Possum)

FROM: "Voyage au Pôle Sud et dans l’Océanie sur les corvettes l’Astrolabe et la Zelee,
exécuté par ordre du roi pendant les années 1837-1838-1839-1840";
First edition.
Atlas zoologique, Mammifères, plate 15.

c.1842

TECHNIQUE: Stipple engraving

JEAN-CHARLES WERNER (painted by)
(Paris 1798-1856)

Engraved by A. DUMÉNIL

DESCRIPTION:
Rare and very detailed engraving from Dumont d'Urville's "Voyage au pole Sud et dans l'Oceanie..."
An exquisite image of a male White Possum with four detailed sketches of the skull and jaw.
A superb image of this Possum specimen.

NOTE:
Stipple engraving on copperplate.
Printed on thick wove paper.
Original hand colouring.
"GIDE Editeur Paris" blind stamp at centre bottom margin.

SIZE: 415mm(H) x 280mm(L) [copperplate]
550mm(H) x 355mm(L) [sheet/paper]

CONDITION:
In perfect condition.
Excellent impression and attractive original hand colouring.
Full editorial margins.
This print was issued for the subscribers and never bound in the volume.
BIOGRAPHY:
Jean-Charles Werner 
(Paris 1798-1856)
Was a natural history artist and comparative anatomist for the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris, where he contributed some 350 paintings of animals on vellum for the famous Collection des vélins between the years 1826 and 1856.
The Collection, initiated in 1631, contained work by the finest natural history artists in France, including Nicolas Robert and Pierre-Joseph Redouté.
Werner provided illustrations for the publication of Dumont d’Urville’s expeditions to Australia and the South Pacific, and also worked with Cuvier, Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, and Henri Ducrotay de Blainville.
Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire named a species of monkey after him.