1783 HISTOIRE NATURELLE DES MINERAUX BY DE BUFFON VOLS I-IV GOLD SILVER QUARTZ *

Description: I have here for sale a set of four books entitled HISTOIRE NATURELLE DES MINERAUX par M. le Comte de Buffon. Tomes I-IV. Published by L'Imprimerie Royale, in Paris from 1783 through to 1786. Each volume covers a number of different minerals and their history. There are illustrated chapter headers and tail pieces. There are notes to the bottom of some pages. Originally there were also volumes V and VI but I do not have those. Make no mistake, these are the very large volumes measuring 28 cm by 22 cm, not the cheaper and smaller edition published in 1788. Buffon's Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière (1749–1788: in 36 volumes; an additional volume based on his notes appeared in 1789) was originally intended to cover all three "kingdoms" of nature but the Histoire naturelle ended up being limited to the animal and mineral kingdoms, and the animals covered were only the birds and quadrupeds. "Written in a brilliant style, this work was read ... by every educated person in Europe". Those who assisted him in the production of this great work included Louis Jean-Marie Daubenton, Philibert Guéneau de Montbeillard, and Gabriel-Léopold Bexon, along with numerous artists. Buffon's Histoire naturelle was translated into many different languages, making him one of the most widely-read authors of the day, a rival to Montesquieu, Rousseau, and Voltaire. Bound in half brown leather on speckled hardboards. 5 raised bands and gilt lettering to the spines. All 4 volumes have a lot of tears to the paper but all the boards are firm. Vignette to the title pages. Pages slightly rough cut with edges a little darkened. Pages in Vol I have a stain to the top edge of about half the book. All others clean and firm. Some pages are uncut still. Vol I - 557 pages + xl index; Vol II - 602 pages + xxvi Index; Vol III - 636 pages + xix index; Vol IV - 448 pages + xxxviii index. 28 x 22 cm.We have over 2000 items in our Ebay shop on a range of subjects, so please feel free to have a browse and see if anything else takes your fancy.Postage will be by Air Mail outside of UK. If you buy more than one item then the postage cost falls for the second and further items as I will put them into one parcel - so you save money. We wrap and post the parcels on Monday and Tuesday - therefore if you pay before midday on Tuesday we will get it in the postal sacks on Tuesday night, and if it is after that time then it will go into the postal service on the following Monday. pages

Price: 399.99 GBP

Location: Whitegate, Cheshire

End Time: 2024-12-27T18:49:43.000Z

Shipping Cost: 121.06 GBP