Chenu - Encyclopédie d'Histoire Naturelle. Oiseaux - 1860

A monumental standard work of classical ornithology—the complete bird section of one of the most important French natural history encyclopedias of the 19th century. Publisher: Paris, Marescq et Compagnie / Gustave Havard, around 1860. 6 volumes with numerous black-and-white illustrations in the text and as plates. Half-leather bindings with gold-embossed spine titles and ornamental spine gilding, FOLIO 29 x 20 cm, 8 kg. Edited by the French naturalist and military physician Jean-Charles Chenu (1808–1879), Encyclopédie d'Histoire Naturelle ranks among the most extensive scientific compendia of the 19th century. The aim of the project was to summarize all knowledge of the animal and plant kingdoms available at the time, based on the works of leading naturalists such as Buffon, Cuvier, Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Latreille, or de Jussieu, while also integrating the latest scientific findings. The complete section on birds presented here forms one of the most significant parts of this monumental encyclopedia. The six volumes systematically cover all bird families known at the time. Each species is described in terms of its characteristics, distribution, way of life, and systematic position. In doing so, the work combines scientific precision with a remarkably clear presentation for its era and represents an important milestone in French ornithology before the final breakthrough of modern evolutionary biology. Bindings lightly rubbed, internally overall clean and complete with only occasional age-related foxing and minor signs of wear; overall a very well-preserved copy of this rarely complete six-volume edition.

Estimate:£78.82

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