Georges-Louis Leclerc, comte de Buffon - Histoire naturelle des oiseaux - à Paris de l'imprimerie Royale, 1770 - 1785 - from 350 to 450 pages per volume - full marbled calf from the time - duodecimo - 10 x 17 cm. Condition: A few missing crowns, 2 joints split on 4 cm, strong hinges, some dented corners, 1 missing piece of leather on the first cover of book 7, spine with raised bands adorned with the spider web and title and volume number labels (missing the volume number labels of volume 8 and 14 and a few scratches on the spine of volume 14), some foxing and brown leaves, old ball pen writing dating from 1956 on an end paper, red edges. Complete in 18 volumes. Collated complete book with 261 engravings out of text by De Sève. First edition in this format from quarto format Nice copy of this reference book on birds. Georges-Louis Leclerc, count of Buffon (1707-1788) is a naturalist, mathematician, biologist, cosmologist, philosopher and French writer. Both science academician and French academician, he participated in the Enlightenment and worked on the encyclopedia, specially in the field of natural sciences. His theories influenced two generations of naturalists, in particular Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck and Charles Darwin. Praised by his contemporaries for his master natural history book, Buffon was described as ‘Pliny of Montbard’.