A hand coloured antique print entitled Le Vautour .
From ‘Histoire Naturelle Des Oiseaux’ by George-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon.
Published by L’Imprimerie Royale, Paris between 1770 and 1786.
Engraved by Hubert.
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 Vautour translates as The Vulture. The vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. 23 species exist across the globe. A particular characteristic of the vulture is it’s bald head. The bare skin is thought to keep the head clean when feeding.
Size: 27 x 19.5 cms or 10 3/4 x 7 1/2 inches.
Condition: Near Fine. The coloured part of the engraving is clean and fresh. The white surround is slightly marked and faintly tanned but in the main clean. The paper on which the engraving is printed is uneven in shape with a ragged edge. This was usual for the period of manufacture. There are two strips of paper glued to the reverse side. They were probably once used to affix the print to a mount.
