Histoire Naturelle (French Manuscript on Natural History with 86 Hand-Drawn Illustrations, ca. 1840).

Hardcover. Very good. Bound manuscript, 9 x 7 inches, in contemporary quarter-leather and marbled boards with gilt title and floral decorations on spine. [335] pp, with several charts (two folding) and 86 meticulously drawn illustrations in black ink, as well as a few unfinished pencil drawings. No author name or date. Light scattered foxing, otherwise clean and sound. Some of the writing is faded, but should still be legible to anyone with a good command of French and familiarity with scientific nomenclature. That description doesn't quite apply to us at Walkabout Books, but with our basic college French we can tell that much of the text relates to the taxonomy and physiology of the animal kingdom, but it also discusses the classification of plants, fungi, and rocks and minerals. It may be a sophisticated student notebook or the draft of a textbook. It draws on the work of Cuvier and other French naturalists of the period ca, 1815-1840, and some of the illustrations appear to be after those in Cahiers d'histoire naturelle a` l'usage des collèges et des écoles normales primaires, published in the 1830s by Achille Comte and Henri Milne-Edwards. The text and illustrations appear to be in two different hands, and it seems that the illustrator never completed his or her work, as the illustrations end around page 210. The illustrations range in size and complexity, with the largest being human figures showing the skeleton and circulatory system (ca. 2 x 6 inches) and the smallest showing individual bones or joints and small insects (ca. 1/2 x 1 inch). In addition to many illustrations of human anatomy, there are drawings of birds, insects, reptiles, one fish, and one mammal. All are very skillfully rendered.

Item #21590

Price: $850.00