HISTOIRE NATURELLE DES QUADRUPÈDES OVIPARES ET DES SERPEN

Pari, 1789. Two volumes. 17,[1],651; [4],19,[1],144,527pp., plus sixty-three plates and two large folding tables. Thick quarto. Contemporary patterned calf, spines gilt, leather labels. Head and foot of spines chipped, corners lightly bumped, hinges tender. Minor scattered foxing. Table in front of first volume torn in gutter margin. Very good. "One of the earliest treatises on natural history by this associate of Buffon" - Wood. Lacepede planned his work after assisting Buffon in his famous HISTOIRE NATURELLE. This work covers reptiles, and a later work concerned itself with fishes. Lacepede always retained a love of an elegant and elevated style, characteristic of Buffon's work, but after his death in 1789 Lacepede increasingly came under the influence of Daubenton. The treatise is illustrated with sixty-three full page engravings showing lizards, turtles, frogs, and snakes. A distinguishing feature of Lacepede's work is the large folding tables containing classifying orders according to the Linnaean system of nomenclature. Since he believed the classification system to be artificial and not natural, he often invented taxa for which no species existed in order to ensure symmetry in his tables. WOOD 424. NISSEN ZBI 2346