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Histoire Naturelle Des Quadrupedes Ovipares Et Des Serpens [= Histoire Naturelle, Vols. XXXVII-XXXVIII]. Nouvelle Edition. Dordrecht, A. Blussé And Son, 1799.
By : BUFFON, Georges Louis Leclerc and Bernard Germain Etienne De La Ville-Sur-Illon, Comte De LACEPEDE.
From the reptile and amphibian section of Buffon’s monumental work on the general and particular natural history. Many species (frogs, snakes, lizards, salamanders, turtles, etc.) are depicted in their natural habitat. The work is here in the new edition published at Amsterdam and Dordrecht, the only quarto edition to rival the original French Imprimerie Royale edition. Georges Louis Leclerc (1707-1788), in 1717 his father became Comte de Buffon and Louis XV later made Georges Comte de Buffon, was an inconspicuous student who only showed a special talent for mathematics. Initially he combined a career in finance with one in science, translating important works by Hales and Newton into French. In 1739 Buffon became director of the Jardin du Roi, later the Jardin des Plantes, and the Histoire naturelle may have originated as a description of the royal collection. It appeared from 1749 to 1804 and eventually comprised 44 volumes. Buffon was assisted among others by the anatomist Louis Daubenton, and the final volumes were completed after his death under the direction of Comte de Lacepede.
Bernard-Germain-Etienne de La Ville-sur-Illon, comte de Lacepede or La Cepede (1756-1825) was a French naturalist and an active freemason. He is known for his contribution to the Comte de Buffon’s great work, the Histoire Naturelle.
