Buffon / Lacépède - Lot de 274 gravures illustrant Œuvres complètes de Buffon et Œuvres de Lacépède - 1835/1836

Lot of 274 engravings (227 x 137 mm) including:

- Part of the plates illustrating the Œuvres complètes de Buffon with the supplements, increase with the classification of G. Cuvier (Paris: Duménil, 1835): The portrait of Buffon in black and white (dimensions 197 x 137 mm), two black and white maps, 8 plates of Matières générales, 56 plates of Quadrupèdes, 54 plates for Oiseaux numbered from 1 to 56 (missing plates 42 and 43)
- The 153 plates illustrating the Œuvres de Lacépède (Paris: Duménil, 1836) including 103 boards for fish, 12 plates for lizards, 5 plates for turtles, 6 plates for amphibians, 22 plates for snakes, 5 plates for cetaceans.

The plates, coloured, have been erased using an arabic gum so as to highlight the blacks and give a shiny effects.

Georges-Louis Leclerc comte de Buffon (1707-1788) was a great French naturalist whose theories influenced Lamarck and Darwin. A precursor of comparative anatomy, he drew attention, in his Natural History, to the similarities between man and ape.
Encouraged by Buffon to study science, Bernard-Germain de Lacépède (1756-1825) contributed to his Natural History before publishing the first work on amphibians, oviparous and reptiles for the general public. He also published a History of Cetaceans and his Natural History of Fish had a great influence on ichthyology.

Uniformly browned sheets, some spots and foxing, some small gaps and marginal tears not affecting the engravings.