BUFFON, Georges-Louis Leclerc de. OEuvres complètes de Buffo - Lot 47

BUFFON, Georges-Louis Leclerc de. OEuvres complètes de Buffon, augmentées par M. F. Cuvier [...] de Deux Volumes supplémentaires... Paris, F. D. Pillot, 1829-1832. 29 vols. large in-12. Duck-blue glazed half calf, smooth spines decorated with double gilt fillet on false nerves, wide gilt Gothic laces and stamped irons, green and blue speckled edges. Approx. 350-500 pages per volume, 284 full-page color engravings (236+48), including 259 in color. Minor rubbing, including to the headpieces, some spines slightly tired and a few plates tarnished. A great bibliophilic classic. This set of Buffon's complete works contains 284 copperplates, 259 of which are hand-colored, spread over 27 volumes, plus 2 additional volumes by Georges Cuvier (1769-1832), as well as a frontispiece portrait of the latter. Buffon's portrait is missing from the first volume. Both a reasoned and scientific work ("the style of this work has found only admirers" - Condorcet), Buffon focuses on the classification and description of the main species of birds and mammals: elephants, bison, cassowaries, polar bears, penguins, lynxes... several hundred species appear in what is the greatest illustrated work of the natural sciences. The work is divided as follows: Théorie de la Terre (vol. 1 and 2, in which Buffon attempts to measure the age of our planet, arriving at the then-impressive result of 74,817 years), Epoques de la Nature (vol. 3, on geological ages), Histoire des Animaux (vol. 10 to 13), des mammifères (vol. 14 to 18), des oiseaux (vol. 19 to 26), table (vol. 27) and Cuvier's supplements (vol. 28 and 29). Impressive set, complete with all plates, in charming homogeneous period binding.