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Martini Lister Conchyliorum bivalvium utriusque aquae exercitatio anatomica tertia: huic accedit Dissertatio medicinalis de calculo humano.

Martin Lister (1638?-1712)
London: Sumptibus authoris impressa, 1696

Rare Books & Special Collections
Strong Room Collection SR 594 L77

We thank our donor...

Conservation treatment of Martini Lister Conchyliorum bivalvium... was generously funded by Adopt-a-book donor, Jane Lomax-Smith. Her valued contribution has ensured this important 17th century tome on bivalvia will be available for future generations of researchers for many years to come.

Synopsis

Born in Buckinghamshire around 1638, Martin Lister, son of Sir Martin Lister (MP for Brackley) and Susan Temple, attended St John’s College in Cambridge where he initially studied the arts. He then travelled to France where he applied himself to medical studies, before returning to practice medicine in York.  In 1684 he was awarded the degree of M.D. from the University of Oxford and three years later was elected Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. Early in the 18th century, Lister was appointed one of the physicians to Queen Anne and retained that post until his death in 1712.

Lister also had a keen interest in natural history and antiquities and was a prolific contributor to Philosophical Transactions. Although renowned for his works on molluscs, he also discovered and wrote about ballooning spiders, provided Sir Isaac Newton with chemical procedures and alloys for his telescopic mirrors, received the first reports of the Chinese smallpox vaccination and was even credited with inventing the histogram.₁  In fact, he availed himself of every opportunity to connect with scientists and explorers. They provided him with valuable specimens and observations from around the world and Lister, in turn, produced truly cross-cultural research. He ultimately bequeathed much of his work, in both book and manuscript form, to the Ashmolean Museum, enriching its natural history collection significantly.₂  He also gifted to the Museum a large collection of shells from both sea and land, various stone and metal specimens, as well as Roman and British antiquities including medals, rings and seals.

Lister devoted considerable time and attention to conchology, the study of shells, and earned considerable standing for his publications on the subject. His 1685 book, Historia, sive Synopsis Methodica Conchyliorum, is thought to contain accurate figures of all the shells known during his time, perhaps as many as 1,000, all of which were drawn by his daughters, Susannah and Mary.₃  Conchyliorum bivalvium utriusque aquae exercitatio anatomica tertia… was Lister’s privately printed 1696 publication that formed the third part of his famous Exercitatio Anatomica. The Library’s copy is beautifully illustrated with fold-out drawings of bivalvia including scallops and cephalopod molluscs such as squid, amongst others. Now, more than 300 years old, the book’s content still retains its value. An authoritative source for conchology students, Lister’s book will also appeal to other natural science researchers.

Original Condition

Half-calf binding with marbled paper boards. Front and rear boards detached and rear endpapers also detached. Prior repairs to front endpaper, title page and preface pages with each reattached using either tape or paper. Textblock split in multiple sections, with water stains to numerous pages and minor open tears to rear pages. Leather spine deteriorated and leather missing entirely from all board corners. All edges chipped and corners severely bumped. Requires re-sewing and re-backing.

Conservation by Anthony Zammit

Binding disassembled and all gatherings repaired and restructured in preparation for resewing. Japanese paper used to reinforce crumbling page edges and to provide added strength and support to the inner hinges of both front and rear boards. Old marbled paper pattern reproduced onto new archival paper. This was then applied to the board edges where the original paper had delaminated. All board corners were reconstructed and custom-dyed calf leather was used to recover the corners and the spine. New headbands, sympathetic to the original binding, were inserted and the cover reattached to the textblock.

Footnotes:

1. The correspondence of Martin Lister, Anna Marie Roos and Cultures of Knowledge, Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, 2015

2. Martini Lister Esq., the son of a Knight, Book of benefactors, Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, University of Oxford, 2012

3. Martin Lister, Munk's Roll, Vol. 1, William Munk, Lives of the fellows, Royal College of Physicians, 2009