Introduction The Smithsonian Institution Libraries' copy is an 1801 re-issue of Spalowsky's book, originally published in 1795.
Dedicatory materials constitute the only difference between the two issues.
It was quite common in this period for authors to seek the financial assistance of a patron or sponsor and to dedicate the published work to him or her. Royalty, nobility, and other prominent, wealthy people were frequently courted for such purposes. Another of Spalowsky's books is dedicated to Franz II and Maria-Theresa of Austria, for example, with ornate frontispiece portraits and an extended dedicatory address. After Spalowsky died in 1797, his widow, Anna von Spalowsky, held unsold copies of the work and continued to promote it. The Prodromus , in either issue, is among the rarest of published books on shells.