Product Description
Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, Comte de; Barr’s Buffon. Buffon’s Natural History. Containing a Theory of the Earth, General History of Man, the Brute Creation, Vegetables, Minerals. From the French, with Note’s by the Translator. In Ten Volumes. + Natural History of Birds, Fish, Insects & Reptiles, Embellished with Over 200 Engravings. In 5 Volumes (15 Volumes total). H. D. Symonds, Paternoster Row, London, 1797-1798. Octavo, complete set, pagination follows:
Vol. 1. pp. viii, 333. 1797
Vol. 2. pp. iv, 348. 1797
Vol. 3 pp. viii, 348. 4 plates. 1797. (NOTE, title page states vol. IV, in printers error, see last page).
Vol. 4. pp. 2. 352, 1 plate. 1797
Vol. 5. pp. 347, 13 plates. 1797
Vol. 5. pp. 347, 13 plates. 1797
Vol. 6. pp. iv, 348, 19 plates 1797
Vol. 7. pp. iv, 338, 13 plates. 1797
Vol. 8. pp. 343, iv, 18 plates. 1797,
Vol. 9. pp. vi, 356, 15 plates. 1797
Vol. 10. pp. 366. 1797
Vol. 1. pp. viii, 322, 14 plates. 1798
Vol. 2. pp. viii, 332, 10 plates. 1798
Vol. 3. pp. viii, 320, 9 plates. 1798
Vol. 4. pp. viii, 322, 8 plates. 1798
Vol. 5. pp. viii, 386, 2, 6 plates. 1798
The set is complete and in a contemporary full calf with gilt ruled borders, gilt spine titles and panels. Light wear to bindings, outer hinge areas restored, spine titles with light wear, text and plates are bright with only light age toning to edges. In very good condition.
Georges-Louis Leclerc Comte de Buffon (1707-1788) was a French naturalist, mathematician, and cosmologist. Buffon was keeper of the Jardin du Roi (later the Jardin des Plantes) in Paris and made it a center of research during the Enlightenment. His works influenced future generations of naturalists, including two prominent French scientists Jean-Baptiste Lamark and Georges Cuvier. His most important work was the thirty-six volume “Historie Naturelle”. Buffon published the first edition of his "Histoire Naturelle" during his lifetime, with additional volumes based on his notes and further research being published in the two decades following his death. Within this work he described all known living animals. The work was quite popular leading to several editions being published. Of particular interest to the geologist are the first volumes of the work. The work was interspersed with Buffon's own speculations and theories on the formation and evolution of the Earth and life on it. His writings contain not only a evolutionary theory for animal and plant life, but also a description of the origins of the earth and other planets from comet impact with the sun and solidification from a molten state. Buffon points out the long chronological history of the earth that is recorded in the rocks. Volumes in the set cover the histories of the earth, man, animals, plants, and minerals.
