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Georges Cuvier, a giant among comparative anatomists and zoologists, embarked on a 22 volume work in 1828. The work was completed in 1849, after his death, through the efforts of his student Achille Valenciennes. It consisted of 11 250 pages and described 4055 species, half of which were new to science. The Historical Portrait of the Progress of Ichthyology (Johns Hopkins University Press, £54, ISBN 0 8018 4914 4) spans the first part of the first volume, written by Cuvier himself, ably translated into English by Abbey Simpson and edited by the biohistorian Theodore Pietsch. It covers studies from the ancient Egyptian to the beginnings of modern ichthyology in the 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries. It’s an exemplary tome splendidly illustrated from original sources. Any ichthyologist worth his or her salt will want access to it.