A hand coloured antique print entitled Le Choucas.
From ‘Histoire Naturelle Des Oiseaux’ by George-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon.
Published by L’Imprimerie Royale, Paris between 1770 and 1786.
Engraved by Massard
36 volumes of Histoire Naturelle were published during the author’s lifetime with a further eight being produced after his death by Leclerc’s friend Bernard Germain de Lacépède.
Born a man of modest circumstance George-Louis Leclerc secured a massive inheritance from his godfather. With this he travelled to Paris where, after some study, he earned a position as Head of Le Jardin du Roi, a major botanical garden in the city. Here he started his studies of plants and animals in earnest, collecting vast numbers of botanical and zoological specimens and turning the park into an institute of research.
The Choucas translates as Jackdaw. Some 1.4 million breeding pairs of jackdaw exist in Britain, with 30 million throughout Europe. Jackdaws are known in for their love of bright objects. They communicate via their eyes. For this reason they make good pets, getting on well with humans because they can read their human’s eye motion.
Size: 27.2 x 19.5 cms or 10 3/4 x 7 3/4 inches.
Size of coloured part of engraving: 19.5 x 15.5 cms or 7 3/4 x 6 inches.
Condition: Near fine: The coloured part of the image is, but for small flaws, fresh and clean. The white surround has darkened at the edges. The paper upon which the engraving is printed is uneven in shape and slightly creased. This was usual for the period of manufacture. One corner is creased. There are two pieces of paper attached to the reverse side of the image. I imagine they were once used to affix the engraving to a mount.
