A hand coloured antique print entitled Le Fauvette Des Alpes.
From ‘Histoire Naturelle Des Oiseaux’ by George-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon.
Published by L’Imprimerie Royale, Paris between 1770 and 1786.
Engraved by Baron.
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 Fauvette Des Alpes translates as The Alpine Warbler. I’m unable to identify this particular warbler. Suffice to say it lives at high altitudes.
Size: 26.4 x 19 cms or 10 1/2 x 7 |1/2 inches.
Condition: Very Good. The coloured part of the engraving is clean and fresh. The white surround is slightly browned at the bottom edge and marked with a brown dot to the right and a dark dot and faint mark at the top. The paper upon which the engraving is printed is uneven in shape, a little creased and thin at the edges. This was usual for the period of manufacture. Two strips of paper are glued to the reverse side. These were probably once used to affix the engraving to a mount.
