Antiquariaat Coriovallum heeftr onlangs een speciale editie van de Oeuvres complètes de Buffon verworven. Een topstuk op het gebied van natuurlijke historie, Het betreft de complete serie van 14 delen met daarin o.a. 740 lithografieën, waarvan bijna 450 handgekleurde. De prijs is € 2.500,-

Oeuvres complètes de Buffon, suivies de ses continuateurs Daubenton, Lacépède, Cuvier, Duméril, Poiret, Lesson et Geoffroy-St-Hilaire.

Bruxelles,  Th. Lejeune (printed by P.-M. de Vroom) – Brussels,, 1828-1830

14 volumes, half-leather bound – complete set of a special edition of the works of George-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (1707-1788), the most important natural historian of his day with great influence on various scientific fields.

Most volumes have dampstaining on textpages, with occasional foxing, otherwise in good condition. Former owner’s name on title page.

 The present work was enlarged with new information by Buffon’s successors in the field of natural history, Daubenton, Lacépède, Cuvier, Duméril, Poiret, Lesson et Geoffroy-St-Hilaire. The work starts with two prefaces, by the publishers at Brussels and Paris, and two eulogies, one on Buffon by Condorcet, and the other on Daubenton by Baron Cuvier. The illustrations were made under supervision of M. Meunier, draughtsman of the Cabinet d’Histoire Naturelle, and for the first time lithographed, which according to the Paris publisher allowed a much more truthful representation of live subjects. The lithography was done by the Brussels publisher, Th. Lejeune, and printed on special paper.The work is divided into four parts:

• Théorie de la Terre, volumes 1-4, with 2 lithographed portraits, 2 maps, and 30 plates – 484, 483, 503 and 501 pp.
• Histoire naturelle de l’homme, volume 5, with 27 lithographed plates, 10 coloured by hand – 440 pp.
• Mammifères, volumes 6-10, with 469 lithographed plates, numbered 1 – 467, including plate 167bis and 167ter, including 226 coloured by hand – 471, 492, 490, 396 and 340 pp.
• Oiseaux, vols. 11-14, with 210 lithographed plates, numbered 1 – 190, including numerous plates numbered “bis” and “ter”, all coloured by hand – 446, 476, 408 and 415 pp.

So, there are 740 lithographed portraits, maps and plates in total, and almost two/thirds of the plates depicting mammals and birds are in beautiful hand-colouring.