BUFFON (Georges-Louis de). Histoire naturelle, générale et p - Lot 73

BUFFON (Georges-Louis de). Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière, avec la description du cabinet du Roi. Paris, 1749-1789. 37 volumes in-4º (26.3 x 20.5 cm), full fawn calf, five-ribbed spine decorated with gilt roulette, red and green morocco title-pieces, caissons decorated with gilt fleuron irons, triple gilt fillet framing the boards, gilt roulette at the necks, marbled edges, vat paper on the flyleaves and endpapers. (A fine copy, complete and in good condition, despite a few minor defects, including dull corners, slight spotting on the boards of some volumes, a small hole on the C-Eij sections of volume II, a small wormhole on one of the nerves of volume XII, pagination error on volume I of the supplement, a few isolated stains). First edition of this masterpiece of 18th-century natural science. This collection contains all 36 volumes produced by Buffon between 1749 and 1788. The first part is Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière, avec la description du Cabinet du Roi 1749-1767 (15 vol.), Histoire naturelle des oiseaux 1770-1783 (9 vol.), Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière Supplément (Théorie de la Terre, minéraux, animaux quadrupèdes) 1774-1789 (7 vol.), Histoire naturelle des minéraux 1783-1788 (5 vol. or 6 depending on whether the maps are bound in an atlas volume or not). The illustrations comprise 1,064 plates (including 1 repeated plate, Nº44 of volume XIII), 1 portrait of Buffon and 10 folded maps or figures, mainly by Jacques de Sève père et fils. The first three volumes, published in the autumn of 1749, included a methodology and long dissertations, such as Théorie de la terre, histoire générale des animaux, réflexion sur la place de l'homme dans la nature and étude sur la diversité de l'espèce humaine. Between 1753 and 1767, the next twelve volumes were devoted to the description and study of quadruped mammals. Between 1770 and 1783, the nine volumes of the natural history of birds were printed, while from 1774 onwards, the seven volumes of supplements were published. Finally, the five volumes of Histoire naturelle des minéraux were published between 1781 and 1788, accompanied by an atlas volume containing 8 folded maps. French naturalist and writer Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de Buffon (1707-1788), is the author of a monumental Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière, published in 37 volumes in-4º between 1749 and 1788, to which Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton (1716-1800), Philibert Guéneau de Montbéliard (1720-1785) and Abbé Gabriel Bexon (1748-1784) contributed. Provenance: L.F. C. Marin (1721-1809), man of letters, royal censor (engraved armorial bookplate).