Daubenton/Buffon - Histoire naturelle (…) du cabinet du Roi - 1757

DAUBENTON, LOUIS-JEAN-MARIE / BUFFON, GEORGES-LOUIS LECLERC, COMTE DE & Natural History, General and Particular, with the description of the King’s Cabinet. Paris: Imprimerie Royale, 1753–1758. 7 Volumes in-12 (III-V-VIII-IX-XXVIII-XXX-XXXI). Full brown marbled calf of the period, spine with raised bands, title and volume labels. This series of volumes of the Natural History arising from the prestigious Imprimerie Royale of Paris constitutes the absolute summit of eighteenth-century scientific printing. It is in these precise volumes, written in collaboration with the anatomist Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton, that the modern comparative method was established: the meticulous description of the internal anatomy, skeletons and viscera of quadrupeds comes to double the literary and philosophical discourse of Buffon. The illustration of these volumes is remarkable, including anatomico-osteological plates of very high scientific rigor engraved by burin (human comparative osteological plate, renal and visceral schemes, and skeletons of animals on pedestals). Set of volumes in period bindings in full brown marbled calf. The backs preserve superb gilt-tooled panels and gilt ornamentation. Wear from use, rubbing and small superficial losses on the crowns of some volumes, but the bindings are solid and the inner text blocks are in fresh condition on laid paper, illustrated with numerous plates hors-texte. Not collated as a set. To print this monumental Natural History, Louis XV made available to the Louvre’s Imprimerie Royale, using the finest papers and most refined typefaces of the era. If Buffon captivated salons with his sparkling literary style, his accomplice Daubenton did all the scholarly work in the shadows of the anatomy laboratories. It is said that Daubenton dissected hundreds of specimens sent directly from the King’s Cabinet (located at the Jardin des Plantes), amidst the fumes of formaldehyde and under the astonished gaze of the court, thus creating the first great living encyclopedia of modern zoology.

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