Bidspirit auction | Martinet & Buffon - Volume

Martinet & Buffon - Volume 5 with 98 Bird Engravings - This is volume 5 of Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon & Francois-Nicolas Martinet's work entitled Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux . It was published in Paris by Imprimerie Royale in 1778. The work was considered one of the most important and beautiful books on birds of the 18th century. Each plate features a delicate yellow border, which many believe led to the development of French matting. Each plate is on fine chain-linked, watermarked paper. This is volume 5 with 98 originally hand-colored bird engravings. It is bound in contemporary fawn half-calf, marbled parchment covers, decorated ribbed spine, red edges. The birds were engraved after drawings by Francois-Nicolas Martinet. It includes the text bound in on the birds that was originally published with Buffon's Histoire naturelle générale et particulière . Buffon's work became one of the most informative sources as far as the visual appearance of animals, and was highly understandable for a wide audience. Buffon described his work and love for natural history by stating that, ”Natural history embraces all the objects the universe presents to us. This prodigious multitude of quadrupeds, birds, fish, insects, plants, minerals, etc., offers to the curiosity of the human mind a vast spectacle, of which the whole is so great that the details are inexhaustible.” The bird engravings are from François-Nicolas Martinet. Martinet (1731-1800) was a prominent ornithological artist of the 1700s. He work closely with Count Georges-Louis Leclerc du Buffon on Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux . Martinet also created work for Marmontel, Voltaire, and Philidor. Paper Size: ~ 9” by 12 1/2” Paper Type or Special Features: Volume 5 with 98 Originally Hand-colored Bird Engravings