Descripción
"2 volumes folio (22 3/4 x 15 3/4 in.; 57.8 x 40 cm). 145 fine stipple-engraved plates after Jacques Barraband, printed in colors and finished by hand by Langlois under the direction of Bouquet, dedication leaf to B.G.E.L. Lacépède in vol. 1, half-titles and single-page indices in each volume; light scattered foxing to text leaves for plates 64 and 70 and index leaf in vol. 1, negligible toning to plates 103 and 118, light marginal foxing on plates 116 and 128, small faint stain to lower inside corner of plate 103. Nineteenth-century salmon morocco paneled gilt with a double roll-tooled border of acanthus leaves, the spines richly gilt in compartments with slightly raised bands, lettered in the second, third, and final compartments (the last dated "1807" [sic]), marbled endpapers, edges gilt; the spines gently sunned, a few scrapes to board edges with minor loss. FIRST EDITION OF ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL FRENCH ORNITHOLOGICAL BOOKS, A BRIGHT, CRISP COPY IN A HANDSOME BINDING. Levaillant, one of France's greatest ornithologists, was born the son of the French consul in Paramarimbo, Dutch Guiana. Having studied natural history at Metz, he became one of the first of a new breed of naturalists who observed and recorded their subjects in their natural habitat. In 1781-1784, he collected specimens in South Africa on behalf of the Dutch East India Company. Jacques Barraband (1767/68-1809) worked for the Gobelin factory and was recognized as the best ornithological artist of his time owing to his attention to remarkably accurate detail and use of naturalistically textured color. Langlois' skillful engravings of Barraband's original watercolor and gouache drawings reproduce their delicate modulations of tone and color as well as their fine lines and flawless draftsmanship. "After he had made himself Emperor, it was part of Napoleon's deliberate policy to initiate a series of magnificent publications that would vie with those undertaken on the orders of Louis XIV. Theses were sent as presented to crowned heads, men of science, and learned bodies, in evidence of the splendours of the Empire … The works of Levaillant owe their sumptuous character to … this impetus. His Histoire naturelle des perroquets is, unwittingly, a part of the glories of Napoleonic France" (Fine Bird Books, p. 15). REFERENCES: Anker 303; Ayer/Zimmer p. 392; Fine Bird Books (1990), p. 118; Nissen IVB 558; Ronsil 1780". N° de ref. del artículo 65ERM0167
Contactar al vendedor
Denunciar este artículo
