NATURAL HISTORY:
General and Particular ;-
by Count de Buffon 1812
Price: $1,850 Buy Now
NATURAL HISTORY: General and Particular ;- by Count de Buffon 1812;-Illustrated with Above Six Hundred Copper Plates. History of Man and Quadrupeds, translated with Notes and Observations by William Smellie . . . A New Edition, Carefully Corrected and Considerably Enlarged, by Many Additional Articles, Notes, and Plates and Some Account of the Life of M. de Buffon by William Wood. In 20 volumes.Published by T. Cadell & Davies: of London, 1812;- 20 Volumes ;- In fine collectable condition;- All engravings are present and in very fine condition, 2 fold-out Maps to Volume 1. The Old Continent and The New Continent, also in very fine condition. A few foldout plates also throughout the set. All in very fine condition. An Extensive Appendix to the last Volume 20;- and an extensive Index also to the last Volume 20. Some mild foxing throughout the volumes, but does not effect the engraving of the plates;-otherwise a great collection;- This is a very attractive set, in fine collectable condition;-
Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon;- Born 7 September 1707 – Died16 April 1788 was a French Naturalist , Mathematician, Cosmologist and encyclopedic author. His works influenced the next two generations of Naturalists, including Jean Baptiste Lamarck and George Cuvier. Buffon published thirty-six quarto volumes of his Histoire naturelle during his lifetime; with additional volumes based on his notes and further research being published in the two decades following his death. It has been said that "Truly, Buffon was the father of all thought in natural history in the second half of the 18th century". Buffon held the position of intendant (director) at the Jardin du Roi, now called the Jardin des Plantes;- it is the French equivalent of Kew Gardens.
William Smellie (1740–1795) was a Scottish Master Printer, Naturalist, Antiquary, editor and Encyclopedist. He was friends with Robert Burns, whose assessment is engraved on Smellie's tombstone: "Here lies a man who did honour to human nature". Burns also described him fondly in a letter as "that old Veteran in Genius, Wit and Bawdry". Smellie is also noted for his English translation of the famous Histoire Naturelle of the French naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon. In 1779, Smellie was nominated to be the University of Edinburgh’s Professor of Natural History; however, the post was awarded to Dr. John Walker, allegedly due to politics.
Charles Darwin wrote in his preliminary historical sketch added to the third edition of On the Origin of Species: "Passing over Buffon, with whose writings I am not familiar". Then, from the fourth edition onwards, he amended this to say that "the first author who in modern times has treated it [evolution] in a scientific spirit was Count Buffon. But as his opinions fluctuated greatly at different periods, and as he does not enter on the causes or means of the transformation of species, I need not here enter on details". Buffon's work on degeneration, however, was immensely influential on later scholars but was overshadowed by strong moral overtones.
Throughout Count Buffon's travels, he noticed that even though geographic areas were nearly the same, each place had unique wildlife that was similar to wildlife in other areas.He hypothesised that they were all related in some way and that their environments were what made them change. Once again, these ideas were used by Darwin to help come up with his idea of natural selection. It was very similar to the evidence he found when travelling on the HMS Beagle collecting his specimens and studying nature. The Comte de Buffon's writings were used as evidence for Darwin while he wrote about his findings and presented them to other scientists and the public.
Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon;- Born 7 September 1707 – Died16 April 1788 was a French Naturalist , Mathematician, Cosmologist and encyclopedic author. His works influenced the next two generations of Naturalists, including Jean Baptiste Lamarck and George Cuvier. Buffon published thirty-six quarto volumes of his Histoire naturelle during his lifetime; with additional volumes based on his notes and further research being published in the two decades following his death. It has been said that "Truly, Buffon was the father of all thought in natural history in the second half of the 18th century". Buffon held the position of intendant (director) at the Jardin du Roi, now called the Jardin des Plantes;- it is the French equivalent of Kew Gardens.
William Smellie (1740–1795) was a Scottish Master Printer, Naturalist, Antiquary, editor and Encyclopedist. He was friends with Robert Burns, whose assessment is engraved on Smellie's tombstone: "Here lies a man who did honour to human nature". Burns also described him fondly in a letter as "that old Veteran in Genius, Wit and Bawdry". Smellie is also noted for his English translation of the famous Histoire Naturelle of the French naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon. In 1779, Smellie was nominated to be the University of Edinburgh’s Professor of Natural History; however, the post was awarded to Dr. John Walker, allegedly due to politics.
Charles Darwin wrote in his preliminary historical sketch added to the third edition of On the Origin of Species: "Passing over Buffon, with whose writings I am not familiar". Then, from the fourth edition onwards, he amended this to say that "the first author who in modern times has treated it [evolution] in a scientific spirit was Count Buffon. But as his opinions fluctuated greatly at different periods, and as he does not enter on the causes or means of the transformation of species, I need not here enter on details". Buffon's work on degeneration, however, was immensely influential on later scholars but was overshadowed by strong moral overtones.
Throughout Count Buffon's travels, he noticed that even though geographic areas were nearly the same, each place had unique wildlife that was similar to wildlife in other areas.He hypothesised that they were all related in some way and that their environments were what made them change. Once again, these ideas were used by Darwin to help come up with his idea of natural selection. It was very similar to the evidence he found when travelling on the HMS Beagle collecting his specimens and studying nature. The Comte de Buffon's writings were used as evidence for Darwin while he wrote about his findings and presented them to other scientists and the public.
