Comte de Buffon / Daubenton & Cuvier - Œuvres Complètes de Buffon - 1842

Count Buffon (Georges-Louis Leclerc) – Complete Works of Buffon, with excerpts by Daubenton, and Cuvier’s classification.

Homogeneous lot of 3 independent oversized volumes in imperial folio format (27 x 18 cm).
Paris, Chez Furne et Cie, Libraires-Éditeurs (55 Rue Saint-André-des-Arts), 1842–1845.

CONTENT OF THE VOLUMES:

- Volume One (1842): General Subjects I - Theory of the Earth & Natural History of Man.
- Volume Two (1845): General Subjects II - Theory of the Earth II & Minerals (Epochs of Nature, tables of magnetic declination and mineralogical classification).
- Volume Three (1842): Mammals I (Horses, donkeys, bovids, canids, cervids and other quadrupeds).

GRAPHIC APPARATUS, CARTOGRAPHY AND HAND-ILLUMINATED LITHOGRAPHS:
Set with steel-engraved illustrations of high quality, many finely hand-coloured from the period (gravures rehaussées en couleurs à la main):
1. Medical Curiosity and Teratology: The famous and sought after colour plate outside the text engraved by Ambroise Tardieu: "Monstre à un œil" (human Cyclops), "Jumelles attachées par les reins" (siameses joined by the lumbar spine), "Nègre-pie" and "Petite fille à taches poilues". Accompanied by the plate on generation with microscopic observations of sperm according to Leeuwenhoek.
2. Colorful Canine Family Tree: Singular engraved and illuminated map-diagram in watercolor: "Table de l'Ordre des Chiens", showing the common trunk and the branches of dog breeds.
3. Historical and Polar Cartography:
- "Carte de la Région Polaire Arctique" (North Pole and polar cap).
- "Carte de la Région Polaire Antarctique" (South Pole, Antarctic ice and routes of Captain Cook).
- "Carte du Nouveau Continent" (North and South America with oceanic defeats).
- "Carte de la chaîne des montagnes de Langres" (orography and geology of strata).
4. Hand-Colored Zoological Gallery: Numerous beautifully illuminated mammal representations (deer, chamois, roe deer, hares, horses, foals, donkeys, bulls, cows, pigs, wild boar and show dogs).
5. Scientific Tables: Comprehensive methodical tables of mineralogy and observations of the magnetic needle at sea according to Bougainville, Cook, Fleurieu and Chappe.

CONDITION:
- Binding: Half-leather of the period with smooth spines decorated with geometric gilt rules and content titles in gold ("Matières Générales", "Minéraux", "Mammifères"). Block blocks, uniform and solid binding with light shelf wear on sections and edges.
- Interior: In generally good condition, paper sturdy with scattered foxing/natural oxidation that preserves text clarity. The hand-coloured plates retain a vivid and clean coloration. Retains much of its original protective tissue guards.

A visually striking lot that blends natural history, teratological medicine and 19th-century polar cartography.

Shipped well packaged in a rigid reinforced box with tracking code.