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Details
François Levaillant (1753-1824)
Histoire naturelle des perroquets. Paris: Levrault frères (later Levrault, Schoell & Co.), 1801-1805. 2 volumes, large 2° (577 x 415mm). Half-titles, 145 Fine engraved plates after Jacques Barraband, printed in colours and finished by hand by Langlois under the direction of Bouquet. (90mm. tear to outer margin of plate 116, repaired on verso with adhesive tape, occasional very light spotting, heavier to plates 1, 13, 63, 69, 70 and 72.) Contemporary red half morocco, the flat spine divided into six compartments, lettered in the second, numbered in the fourth (light scuffing and bumping to extremities). Provenance: Marquis of Bath (sale Sotheby's 11 June 1979 lot 102).
A FINE, LARGE PAPER COPY OF AN APPARENTLY UNRECORDED ISSUE OF ONE OF THE SCARCEST AND MOST BEAUTIFUL OF LEVAILLANT'S WORKS, WITH THE PLATES IN A PROOF STATE. The received wisdom is that the work was published in two formats, quarto and folio, both published in 24 parts. In addition 12 copies were issued in large folio with the plates in coloured and uncoloured states. The present copy is from an unrecorded large folio issue with the text on 'super royal' or 'impérial' paper and proof plates in their coloured state only, with the engraved titles but before the addition of the imprint. This is the rarest issue of this work and has survived in very few copies. Levaillant, one of the greatest French ornithologists, was the son of the French consul in Dutch Guiana. He was born in Paramarimbo and seems to have inherited his father's love of travel. He became one of the first of a new breed of naturalists who attained prominence towards the end of the 18th century, studying and recording their subjects in their natural habitat. Jacques Barraband (1767 or 1768-1809) worked for the Gobelin factory and was considered the best ornithological artist of his time. Langlois's engravings capture the precision and beauty of his gouache and watercolour originals. "After he had made himself Emperor, it was part of Napoleon's deliberate policy to initiate a series of magnificent publications that would vie with those undertaken to the orders of Louis XIV. These were sent as presents to crowned heads, men of science, and learned bodies, in evidence of the splendours of the Empire... The works of Levaillant owe their sumptous character to... [this].. impetus. His Histoire naturelle des perroquets is, unwittingly, a part of the glories of Napoleonic France" (Fine Bird Books). Anker 303; Fine Bird Books p.90; Nissen IVB 558; Ripley 170; Ronsil p.297; Wood p.434; Zimmer p.392. (2)
Histoire naturelle des perroquets. Paris: Levrault frères (later Levrault, Schoell & Co.), 1801-1805. 2 volumes, large 2° (577 x 415mm). Half-titles, 145 Fine engraved plates after Jacques Barraband, printed in colours and finished by hand by Langlois under the direction of Bouquet. (90mm. tear to outer margin of plate 116, repaired on verso with adhesive tape, occasional very light spotting, heavier to plates 1, 13, 63, 69, 70 and 72.) Contemporary red half morocco, the flat spine divided into six compartments, lettered in the second, numbered in the fourth (light scuffing and bumping to extremities). Provenance: Marquis of Bath (sale Sotheby's 11 June 1979 lot 102).
A FINE, LARGE PAPER COPY OF AN APPARENTLY UNRECORDED ISSUE OF ONE OF THE SCARCEST AND MOST BEAUTIFUL OF LEVAILLANT'S WORKS, WITH THE PLATES IN A PROOF STATE. The received wisdom is that the work was published in two formats, quarto and folio, both published in 24 parts. In addition 12 copies were issued in large folio with the plates in coloured and uncoloured states. The present copy is from an unrecorded large folio issue with the text on 'super royal' or 'impérial' paper and proof plates in their coloured state only, with the engraved titles but before the addition of the imprint. This is the rarest issue of this work and has survived in very few copies. Levaillant, one of the greatest French ornithologists, was the son of the French consul in Dutch Guiana. He was born in Paramarimbo and seems to have inherited his father's love of travel. He became one of the first of a new breed of naturalists who attained prominence towards the end of the 18th century, studying and recording their subjects in their natural habitat. Jacques Barraband (1767 or 1768-1809) worked for the Gobelin factory and was considered the best ornithological artist of his time. Langlois's engravings capture the precision and beauty of his gouache and watercolour originals. "After he had made himself Emperor, it was part of Napoleon's deliberate policy to initiate a series of magnificent publications that would vie with those undertaken to the orders of Louis XIV. These were sent as presents to crowned heads, men of science, and learned bodies, in evidence of the splendours of the Empire... The works of Levaillant owe their sumptous character to... [this].. impetus. His Histoire naturelle des perroquets is, unwittingly, a part of the glories of Napoleonic France" (Fine Bird Books). Anker 303; Fine Bird Books p.90; Nissen IVB 558; Ripley 170; Ronsil p.297; Wood p.434; Zimmer p.392. (2)
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