I845-] TWO TRANSLATIONS OF SOWERBY. 243 



During 1845 the last parts of the two translations in 

 French and in German of Sowerby's " Mineral Conchol- 

 ogy of Great Britain ' ' were distributed to the few sub- 

 scribers. The French edition, a large volume with an 

 atlas of 395 coloured plates, is entitled, " Conchologie 

 (sic) Mineralogique de la Grande Bretagne," par James 

 Sowerby, " traduction frangaise revue, corrigee et aug- 

 mentee par L. Agassiz." The German edition entitled, 

 " James Sowerby's Mineral-Conchologie Grossbritan- 

 niens, etc., Deutsch bearbeitet von Ed. Desor. Durch- 

 gesehen und mit Anmerkungen und Berichtigungen 

 versehen von Dr. L. Agassiz," is also composed of a 

 large volume, with the same atlas of 395 coloured 

 plates. Although the price was considerably lower 

 than that of the original English edition, the two trans- 

 lations did not sell well ; especially the French edi- 

 tion, which was and has remained almost absolutely 

 unknown. The undertaking was a great mistake in 

 every way, and both works have remained a drug in 

 the market. 



Generally, as years pass, or after the death of an 

 author, some of his publications become rare and 

 valuable, and command a higher price than was asked 

 at the time of their issue. With Agassiz's publications, 

 however, this is not the case ; not a single one of his 

 European works is now quoted above, or even at, its 

 price of publication. All are discounted with a fair 

 reduction from the original price, and can be obtained 

 easily of any bookseller in Europe. The same thing 

 has happened also in the case of all his publications in 

 America, with the single exception of his volume on 



