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Fishes.- Bloch (Marcus Elieser) Histoire Naturelle des Poissons, 10 vol., 160 hand-coloured engraved plates after Jacques de Sève, 1 or 2 tears into text, contemporary calf, gilt, black morocco labels to spines, spines slightly faded, occasional chipping to spine ends, [Nissen ZBI 417], 12mo, Paris, Chez Deterville, 1801. ⁂ A fine set of the 12mo edition of Bloch's famous folio work on fishes, the most sumptuous and beautifully produced work on the subject. The present edition forms volumes 32-41 of the 'Suite à Buffon'. The plates are after Jacques De Sève, one of the most famous natural history artists of the period. Marcus Elieser Bloch (1723-1799) was born in Ansbach and practiced as a physician in Berlin. He devoted himself to natural history and wrote several works of which this is his most famous. He is considered the most important ichthyologist of the 18th century and his collection of some 1,500 fishes from all over the world was the largest collection of fishes of his time.