BUFFON, Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de. Histoire Naturelle, Générale et Particulière …
Paris, Imprimerie Royale, - Hotel de Thou 1770-1789
A magnificent quarto edition of Buffon’s monumental work, featuring numerous copperplate engravings.
Among the plates included separately, we highlight: 8 large folded maps in Volume V of ‘Mineraux’; A portrait on the frontispiece and 2 folded maps showing Africa and America in Volume I of ‘Theorie de la Terre’; 2 large folded tables in Volume I of ‘Serpens’. Of particular interest are the plates depicting felines, the wild animals of Africa, and birds.
For the significance of Buffon’s work, see *L’Histoire Naturelle, générale et particulière, avec la description du Cabinet du Roi* (1749–1767), edited by MPB Musée & Parc Buffon de Montbard, in:
https://www.musee-parc-buffon.fr/histoire-naturelle/
30 volumes in quarto. 260x185 mm. Contemporary binding in full marbled brown leather, gilt titles and decorations on the spines, endpapers in polychrome marbled paper, red edges. Numerous engraved plates outside the text, some folded, featuring maps and animals, some with period coloring.
The work comprises:
- Histoire Naturelle des Mineraux.
Paris, Imprimerie Royale, 1783-1788 5 Volumes
-Theorie de la Terre.
Paris, Imprimerie Royale, 1774-1775 3 Volumes
- Histoire Naturelle des Quadrupedes ovipares et des Serpens.
Paris, Hotel de Thou, 1788-1789 2 Volumes
- Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux.
Paris, Imprimerie Royale, 1770-1783 9 Volumes
- Histoire Naturelle des Quadrupedes.
Paris, Imprimerie Royale, 1774-1775 8 Volumes
- Histoire Naturelle, Générale et Particulière … Vol. IV - V - VI.
Paris, Imprimerie Royale, 1776-1778- 1779 3 Volumes