Prehistoric Man; Prehistoric Animals (Two Volumes)

Two volumes.  48pp, following by 52 colour plate illustrations;  46pp, following by 60 colour plates.  In matching bindings of oatmeal cloth, with brown vignettes on upper panels and brown lettering on spine.  Large folios.  The volume on pre-historic man is an ex library copy, with a number and stamp on the front free endpaper and lending sheet on the rear free endpaper.  The cloth on both volumes is a little rubbed on edges and gently rounded at corners and spine tips.  Upper text block edges dust darkened and lightly toned.  A hint of spotting on first and last few leaves, and a few minor signs of handling internally, else volumes are neat, clean and tight. Josef Augusta (1903-1968) was a renowned Czech palaeontologist known for popularising palaeontology through this  collaboration with illustrator Zdeněk Burian (died 2017) on these widely acclaimed, illustrated books about prehistoric life. The dinosaur Burianosaurus augustai is named for Josef Augusta.  The books feature detailed, full-page artistic reconstructions of extinct creatures and early human life.  Prehistoric Man covers human evolution from Java Man to the late Palaeolithic era; Prehistoric Animals is a classic work describing and illustrating now extinct creature.   Originally published in Czech, these volumes are English translations.