A hand coloured antique print entitled Le Merle Bleu.
From ‘Histoire Naturelle Des Oiseaux’ by George-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon.
Published by L’Imprimerie Royale, Paris between 1770 and 1786.
Engraved by Magdeleine. Th. Rousselet.
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.
Le Merle Bleu translates as Bluebird. The bluebird is one of the few thrush genera to be found in The Americas. They live in open grassland and woods. In Spring and Summer they can produce as many as four broods. The male attracts the female by placing building materials in a nest nest site but it is the female who builds the nest.
Size: 28 x 20 cms or 10 3/4 x 7 1/2 inches.
Condition: Very Good. The coloured part of the engraving is fresh and clean. There’s a small dark mark on the white border; also other small marks. The paper upon which the engraving is printed is uneven in shape and creased. This was usual for the period of manufacture. One of the creases cuts across the center of the image, another cuts across the lower left hand side, a third cuts across the bottom. There are two pieces of paper glued to the reverse side of the image. These were probably once used to affix the engraving to a mount.
