Chenu - Encyclopédie d'histoire naturelle. Oiseaux - 1890

Charming illustrated collection from this vast encyclopedic undertaking of the 19th century that gathers, orders, and illustrates the ornithological knowledge available at the time -

The work unfolds in three volumes, successively covering the major orders of birds, and combining anatomical descriptions, systematic classifications, and observations of behavior -

Each volume articulates a scientific approach, inherited from Buffon and the classical naturalists, with a pedagogical and aesthetic intent: the lithographed plates, often in color, offer rich iconography that accompanies the detailed notices -

The authors highlight the morphological and behavioral diversity of the species, stressing the distinctive characteristics (beak, plumage, song, habitat) and their geographic distribution -

The encyclopedia is distinguished by its ambition of scholarly popularization, aimed at a cultivated but non-specialist audience, and by its role in the diffusion of natural history knowledge within an encyclopedic culture of the 19th century.

It illustrates the tension between descriptive science and the emergence of a more analytical ornithology, while constituting a major bibliophilic testimony through the quality of its engravings and the materiality of its editions -

Chenu - Encyclopedia of Natural History. Birds - Undated (Circa 1890) - Volumes I, II, III - Collective.
-> 306, 312, 310 pages

Very good condition of the bindings, volumes in their blond half-calf edition bindings, marbled boards, signs of use, edges dyed, spines with raised bands nicely ornamented, titles, tomaisons and the author's name gilded on pieces of green morocco.

Good interior condition, rare foxing, volumes enriched with numerous black-and-white illustrations in text and on plates, marbled endpapers in good condition -

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