Some bibliographic findings on "Muséum d’Histoire naturelle des Pays‐Bas. - Revue méthodique et critique des collections déposées dans cet établissement" (1862‐1881) edited by Hermann Schlegel

This incomplete catalogue of the Leiden collection, initiated by Hermann Schlegel in 1862, was made up of monographs, most of them on birds, treating Schlegel’s systematic apportionment of bird species to what today we would call orders or families. These monographs were grouped for issue several at a time to make up a numbered ‘Livraison’ (or part). The wrappers of the early Livraisons seem not to bear actual dates of publication and internal dates are not publication dates. We have assembled archival evidence, from Schlegel’s official reports to the Curators of Leiden University, from the archives of the Royal Library, and similar sources to provide a table of dates comparing wrapper dates with this archival information thus achieving more accuracy. Originally the monographs were collected in wrappers printed for the Livraisons which listed their contents. The individual monographs were later subordinated to a changed, systematic order for binding as definitive volumes (‘Tomes’)5. We indicate that sequence. The published series in the period up to Schlegel’s death included one monograph on monkeys but otherwise dealt with the bird collection - although this was not completely catalogued. Of these monographs only one, ‘Buccones’ by A. Goffin, was not by Schlegel himself. The early volumes were indexed in 1881 by Fredericus A. Jentink - who succeeded Schlegel as director of the museum in 1884. The indices form part of the set.