[NATURAL HISTORY]. Le Jardin des Plantes. Description [...] - Lot 163

[NATURAL HISTORY]. Le Jardin des Plantes. Description [...] du Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, de la ménagerie, des serres, des galeries de minéralogie et d'anatomie... Paris, L. Curmer, 1842. In-4, black half-chagrin, smooth spine decorated with romantic interlacing, gilt framing to boards, gilt edges. XXIV+416 pages, a double frontispiece, two engraved portraits, around 75 woodcuts and a map of the menagerie, numerous illustrations in the text. Joints are tired, spine and headband rubbed, first hinge fragile, color plates (normally 12) missing, one two-figure plate cut in half, foxing on some text pages. A natural history classic, this work is a tribute to "the most beautiful monument raised to the science of nature" (Léon Curmer). Throughout its richly illustrated pages, including some 75 full-page engravings, the reader is invited to stroll through the most famous zoological garden in Paris in the 1840s. An interesting natural history work in a charming romantic binding.