(10) Freshwater fishes of Java
 

The freshwater fishes of Java, as observed by Kuhl and van Hasselt in 1820-23

by Tyson R Roberts

Availability: Available from Backhuys for €24 (+shipping)

This is a ttb with a difference. The subject in question is not actually a book, but a large scientific paper.

The paper deals with the freshwater fishes on Java encountered, collected, and illustrated by Heinrich Kuhl and Johan Coenraad van Hasselt, two of the first western ichthyologists to collect and observe freshwater fishes in Southeast Asia.

This is a book to get if you are interested in the history of ichthyological surveys in the region.

Being a scientific paper, the book may not make interesting reading in some places. It starts out by introducing the achievements of Kuhl and van Hasselt, as well as provides some historical background.

The bulk of the book is devoted to an annotated listing of the species they encountered and collected/illustrated.

The most interesting part of the book are the colored plates, which illustrate the drawings of fishes made on their expeditions. Many of these are surprisingly accurate, given that the conditions that they had to work under back then.