Volume 1

Natural history, general and particular / by the Count de Buffon, illustrated with above six hundred copper plates. The history of man and quadrupeds, translated with notes and observations by William Smellie... A new edition, carefully corrected and considerably enlarged, by many additional articles, notes and plates, and some account of the life of M. de Buffon. By William Wood.

  • Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de, 1707-1788.
Date:
1812
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Natural history, general and particular / by the Count de Buffon, illustrated with above six hundred copper plates. The history of man and quadrupeds, translated with notes and observations by William Smellie... A new edition, carefully corrected and considerably enlarged, by many additional articles, notes and plates, and some account of the life of M. de Buffon. By William Wood. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    of the prodigious number of its elegant en- gravings, confined its utility to men of opu- lence. Sensible of this inconvenience, the count de Buffbn, a few years ago, pub- lished an edition in 12mo; and, to bring it within the reach of common purchasers, he excluded from it the long and minute anatomical dissections and mensurations. After this short sketch of the count de BufFon’s History of Nature, it may seen\ strange that no decent translation of it has hitherto appeared in the English language. To such an undertaking, the great expense of the engravings was one solid objection. Another arose from the vast variety of learning employed by the author. AVlien to these are added the exuberance of his fancy, the eloquence and force of his dic- tion, the delicacy and acuteness of his dis- quisitions, we should rather wonder how any man could reconcile himself to a task so laborious, and which required the union of such diversified talents. * * * * * This translation comprehends what is contained in the original fifteen volumes