Buffon

rif. 64405 — Paris l'Imprimerie Royale 1776. 4to 24.1 x 18.5 cm. Title page with engraved vignette engraved head and tail pieces. iii 582 xx pp. six engraved plates many tables. 20th century brown cloth spine with gilt title. = Supplement volume to the quarto edition of this large and important series on natural history by Georges-Louis Leclerc Comte de Buffon 1707-1788. Not to be confused with the much smaller 12mo sometimes listed as 8vo edition. Well-illustrated by De Sève one of the best natural history illustrators of the 18th century. This volume deals with Man and addresses issues as Man's longevity and the probabilities percentages of reaching a certain age. Other topics are ovulary glands body temperature skin colour and albinism siamese twins and other teratological issues. Some mostly marginal toning and infrequent light spotting weak old library stamp on several text pages and the title page but generally clean. Nissen ZBI 672; Casey Wood p. 267. hardcover