Buffon. œuvres Complètes.. Cuvier. Histoire Naturelle De Lacepède. Paris, Furne. 1839-1841

Buffon (George Louis Le Clerc Comte de). Œuvres complètes.. avec des extraits de Dauberton et la classification de Cuvier. Paris, Chez Furne et Ce, Libraires Éditeurs. Rue Saint-André des Arts, 55. 1839-41. Histoire Naturelle de Lacepède compendant les cétacées, les quadrupèdes ovipares, les serpents et les poissons. Nouvelle Édition, Précédée de l’éloge de Lacepède. Par Cuvier.. Paris, Paris, Furne et Ce, Libraires Éditeurs. Rue Saint-André des Arts, 55. 1839.

First edition printed by Furne

Eight volumes, 26 cm, approx. 5,500 pages in total. With a portrait of Buffon as frontispiece in the first volume and 156 plates, arranged as follows: vol. I: 5 geographical maps engraved by Tardieu; vols. III–IV: 42 plates of mammals; vols. V–VI: 74 plates of birds executed by the celebrated natural history painter Édouard Traviès; vols. VII–VIII: 36 plates, mainly of fishes and serpents. All plates are copper-engraved, printed on heavier paper, hors texte, each protected by a tissue guard, finely hand-coloured and gummed at the time. Elegant uniform contemporary half-leather binding, smooth spines with titles and decorative tooling in gilt and blind. Some foxing to the text leaves, with a few sections evenly browned; this does not affect the plates except in a few cases where some plates show browning.

This is the first and finest edition produced by the printer Furne, particularly prized for the accuracy and quality of the hand-colouring of the illustrations. Within a few years it was followed by four further editions, expanded by five plates but of inferior printing quality. Uncommon, especially when complete with the last two volumes containing the work of Lacépède, which is often offered separately as an independent work. Cf. Nissen, ZBI, 700.

9 volumes, 4° (10,39x6,73in)

Private collection

Some foxing to the leaves, with a few sections uniformly browned, not affecting the plates except in a few cases where some plates are browned. Worn spine to vol. I of Histoire naturelle de Lacépède. Slight denting to the board of vol. IV of Œuvres complètes.