[Cuvier, Frédéric — attribué à]. - Notice des animaux vivants, actuellement à la Ménagerie du Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, et - 1801

[Cuvier, Frédéric — attributed to].

Notice of living animals, currently at the Menagerie of the National Museum of Natural History, and historical description on the way of living and the habits of each of them, to which are added a few details concerning the death of the male elephant.
Second edition in part original.
Paris, Patris and Gilbert, 1801 [an IX].

Small octavo, 92 pages, one off-text engraved plate representing the lioness nursing her cubs, drawn from life by Nicolas Maréchal and engraved by Simon-Charles Miger. Cardboard cover under a blank title wrapper of the period.

Rare second edition, published anonymously and now attributed to Frédéric Cuvier. This guide describes the animals then actually kept in the very young Menagerie of the Jardin des Plantes: lions, tigers, leopards, hyenas, bears, elephants, camels, ostriches, deer, and birds, with observations on their origin, their characteristics, their diet, and their behavior in captivity.

This edition is augmented with details relating to the death of the male elephant of the Museum.
The “Avis” announces the great in-folio work of Lacépède and Georges Cuvier, illustrated by Maréchal and Miger; the present Notice, however, constitutes an autonomous work intended for visitors of the Menagerie, and not a detached issue of that publication.

Condition: cover slightly worn; paper a little browned, with some foxing and small stains. Good copy, complete with its 92 pages and the rare plate of the lioness.

No other copy of this edition currently located on the market.