This is the 2nd edition of the standard work, the first "coloured edition". This is the last issue that Alfred Brehm personally worked on. She has 10 volumes (17 kg): Volumes 1-3: Die Säugethiere; Bände 4-6: Die Vögel; volume 7: Die Kriechthiere und Lurche; volume 8: Die Fische; volume 9: Die Insekten; volume 10: die Niederen Thiere. It contains over 1,800 illustrations and more than 170 colour chromolithographs on 6,600 pages. With these imaginative illustrations, the work is practically a "gallery of known fauna" combined with an incredible amount of facts and explanations. In doing so, Brehm builds bridges from the familiar/ordinary (e.g. sparrows) to unknown rarities. Or would you know offhand what an Ichneumon or a Rhea is? The 10 volumes are in good overall condition and a feast for the eyes on any bookshelf. Some volumes are in very good condition, others have slight damage (e.g. scratches) to the covers or foxing here and there, more on unprinted pages and rarely on the colour plates or text pages. On the light/thin protective sheets of the chrome lithographs some colour plates have partly peeled off. The last photo shows the three bindings where I have retouched slightly larger "injuries". Overall, this 140 year old edition is in good condition with light wear.