{"product_id":"the-rhinoceros-a-monograph-special-limited-edition","title":"The Rhinoceros: A Monograph (Special Limited Edition)","description":"\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNARDELLI, Francesco\u003c\/strong\u003e (illus. Matthew Hillier; text compiled Sandra Raphael; foreword John Aspinall; maps John Woodcock). \u003cem\u003eThe Rhinoceros: A Monograph.\u003c\/em\u003e London: The Basilisk Press, 1988.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\"\u003eElephant Folio (67 × 49.5 cm). Full brown leather. Cover titling in blind. Bound by Smith Settle, Otley. 134 pp. 20 full-colour tipped-in plates by Matthew Hillier throughout, with 4 plates for each of the five species. Numerous behavioural vignettes and sketches. Maps by John Woodcock. Text printed on 175gsm paper; plates printed on Mohawk Super Fine paper using a new waterless printing technique. \u003cstrong\u003eFirst edition. Special Edition, limited to 60 copies, this being number 34. Signed by Francesco Nardelli and Matthew Hillier on the limitation page. Includes an original pencil illustration by Matthew Hillier, presented in a lime green frame.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\"\u003eThe Basilisk Press was established with a purpose that its own foreword writer described with characteristic directness. John Aspinall (the conservationist, zoo owner, and founder of Howletts and Port Lympne wildlife parks) wrote of the project: \"The production of this book is a bold venture inspired by love and admiration, rather than commercial logic or academic zeal.\" The description applies equally to the Basilisk Press as an enterprise and to the specific monograph it produced.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\"\u003eThe five living species of rhinoceros are among the most endangered large mammals on earth. At the time of this monograph's production in 1988, all five were under severe threat; the Javan and Sumatran rhinoceroses had already been reduced to tiny remnant populations. The book is dedicated by Nardelli to Torgamba, a Sumatran rhinoceros bull, \"in the sincere hope that he will not prove to be the last of his kind.\" The hope has proved, in the decades since, to be prescient in its anxiety: the Sumatran rhinoceros now numbers fewer than fifty individuals in the wild, the Javan rhinoceros fewer than seventy, and the Northern White Rhinoceros has been functionally extinct since the death of its last male in 2018.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\"\u003eMatthew Hillier spent two years illustrating the monograph, travelling to Africa and Sumatra to study rhinoceroses in the field, producing twenty large plates of portraits and paintings of the five species, together with behavioural sketches. The resulting paintings are stunning works: each species represented by four full-colour tipped-in plates printed on Mohawk Super Fine paper using a waterless printing technique that was, at the time, among the most technically advanced available for fine press production.\u003cspan class=\"inline-flex\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\"\u003eThe text was compiled by Sandra Raphael, and the five chapters combine scientific description, natural history, and conservation context with a sustained argument for the urgency of preservation. The maps by John Woodcock document the historical and contemporary ranges of each species with the same precision brought to the paintings.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\"\u003eThe Special Edition of 60 copies is distinguished from the standard signed limited edition of 300 copies in cloth by its full leather binding executed by Smith Settle of Otley, West Yorkshire, one of the foremost fine binderies in England, and by the inclusion of an original pencil illustration by Matthew Hillier, presented here in a lime green frame — a unique work of art associated with the production, different in each copy, and a direct outcome of the two years Hillier spent studying and drawing rhinoceroses in the field.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFine. \u003c\/strong\u003eA pristine copy throughout.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePlease note: This is an extremely large and very heavy volume. Additional postage costs will apply. Please contact us for a shipping quote before purchase — international shipping for this item will be significant.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\"\u003eThis book is currently not on display in store.\u003cbr\u003eIf you would like more information or to arrange a viewing, please contact: \u003ca href=\"mailto:rarebooks@harryhartog.com.au\" title=\"Harry Hartog Rare Book Department\"\u003erarebooks@harryhartog.com.au\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCatalogue Number: HH000618\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Francesco Nardelli \u0026 Matthew Hillier","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49269572665587,"sku":null,"price":1600.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0634\/4284\/5939\/files\/1_f5ed590e-ee91-488d-9897-1a45ac2ac92d.png?v=1782190868","url":"https:\/\/www.harryhartog.com.au\/products\/the-rhinoceros-a-monograph-special-limited-edition","provider":"Harry Hartog Bookseller","version":"1.0","type":"link"}