DE RYCKHOLT, P.

Académie Royale de Belgique. (Extrait du Tome XXVI de Mém. Couronnés et Mém. Des Savants ètrangers) 1re Partie [1851]. 4to - pp. [1] - 176, with ten partly coloured lithographed plates. 2me Partie [1854]. 4to - pp. [1] - 205, with ten lithographed plates (numbered XI-XX). 3me Partie [1860-62]. 4to - pp. [1] - [4], with sixteen lithographed plates (numbered XXI-XXXVI). 8vo - pp. [1] - 10, with one lithographed plate. Bound in three contemporary half leather volumes with gold embossed decorated spines and black spine labels. Signature on front fly leaf in all volumes and small unknown black lacquer seal in all volumes. All volumes with scuffed edges and corners. Spines with minor wear, but volume I and III with two 5-10 mm holes, from scuffing of the spine leather

De Ryckholt's publications on Cretaceous invertebrate faunas rank among the very first from western Europe and complete sets of the three books are very rare. Rosenberg & Petit (1987) only lists five sets available worldwide. Baron Philippe Louis Francois Joseph Adrien de Bounam de Ryckholt was an aristocratic amateur paleontologist, who during his final years of life devoted all his time to fossil collecting in southern Belgium, around his home town Tournai. Recently a large part of the de Ryckholt fossil collections were encountered within the historical paleontological collections of Liège University. They have long been considered lost! Rosenberg, Gary & Petit Richard, E. (1987) Ryckholt's Mélanges Paléontologiques, 1851 - 1862, with a new name for Tudicula H. & A. Adams, non Ryckholt. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 139: 53-64. Denayer, Julien et al. (2014) Rediscovery of the forgotten de Ryckholt collection (gastropods, bivalves, worms; Late Cretaceous, Belgium). Cretaceous Research 47; 66-71.