BUFFON Georges-Louis Leclerc comte de Oeuvres… mises en ordre par M. le comte de Lacépède.

Belle édition, précédée de l'Eloge de Buffon par Condorcet et d'une notice sur sa vie par Lacépède.

Elle est augmentée d'un Précis des découvertes nouvellement faites dans l'Histoire Naturelle.

Illustré d'un portrait de Buffon et de 245 gravures, la plupart en couleurs, d'après les dessins de Prêtre.

"Buffon's work is of exceptional importance because of its diversity, richness, originality, and influence. Buffon was among the first to create an autonomous science, free of any theological influence. He emphasized the importance of natural history and the great length of geological time. He envisioned the nature of science and understood the roles of paleontology, zoological geography, and animal psychology. He realized both the necessity of transformism and its difficulties. Although his cosmogony was inadequate and his theory of animal reproduction was weak, and although he did not understand the problem of classification, he did establish the intellectual framework within which most naturalists up to Darwin worked." (DSB)

Bel exemplaire.