Histoire naturelle, generale et particuliere. Nouvelle Edition. (16 volume set)

Georges Louis Leclerc Buffon, comte de

Paris: Imprimerie Royale, 1769 - 1770.

16 volume complete set (13 vols. + 3 supplemental volumes). Bound in contemporary French mottled calf.   Gilt stamps spines. Good bindings and covers. Some minor edge wear. All edges red.  Clean, unmarked pages. Profusely illustrated with 203 engraved plates, 2 folding maps, folding chart.

Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, was a noted scientist whose monumental works in natural sciences influenced the next two generations of naturalists, including Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and Georges Cuvier. (Mayr, The Growth of Biological Thought. p 330) Buffon's work was based on the methods of observation and experimentation. He raised many of the fundamental problems of biology in a scientific context. One of Buffon's most important contributions was the popularization of the old earth theory, in opposition to Archbishop Ussher's biblical earth time-line.

Buffon was an important pre-cursor to Darwin. Cited as the father of biogeography, Buffon's Law postulated that creatures "improved" and "degenerated" after dispersing from a center of creation. He based his theory on comparative anatomy studies. Buffon tried to explain the origin of living things by spontaneous generation of elementary particles and its development as a consequence of climate and diet. Buffon argued that all members of a family of species descended from the same ancestors, a "unity of type".

Contents: T. 1. Premier discours. Second discours. Preuves de la theorie de la terre: article I-VIII

t. 2. Article IX-XIX. Conclusion

t. 3. Histoire generale des animaux: chapitre I-IX

t. 4. Chapitre X-XI. Recapitulation. Histoire naturelle de l'homme

t. 5. Varietes dans l'espece humaine. Discours sur la nature des animaux. Letters de MM. les deputes & syndic de la Faculte de theologie a M. de Buffon, avec les reponse & declaration de M. de Buffon. Discours prononce a l'Academie francoise

t. 6. Les animaux domestiques

t. 7-12. Les animaux sauvages

t. 13. Concordance & table alphabetique des noms pour les animaux quadrupedes. Table des auteurs & des voyageurs cites dans cet ouvrage. Table des matieres contenues dans les douze volumes de cette Histoire naturelle.

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