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INSTRUCTION POUR LES BERGERS ET POUR LES PROPRIÉTAIRES DE TROUPEAUX; AVEC DES AUTRES OUVRAGES SUR LES MOUTONS ET SUR LES LAINES.
(Paris: L'Imprimeries de la République, An X [1802]). 220 x 137 mm. (8 3/4 x 5 1/2"). lxiv, 536 pp. Third Edition.
Contemporary blue marbled paper boards, flat spine, edges untrimmed, four quires UNOPENED. WITH 22 ENGRAVED PLATES by Patas after Fossier. Rear endpaper with 19th century price calculations in ink. Small, inconsequential tears to ends of joints and spine, backstrip creases and chafing, minor scuffing to boards, but AN ESPECIALLY FINE COPY, the insubstantial unsophisticated binding entirely solid and with very little soiling, and the interior REMARKABLY CLEAN, FRESH, AND BRIGHT.
With a suite of 22 illustrations, this comprehensive work on sheep husbandry ("Instructions for Shepherds and Flock Owners") is offered here in a remarkably well-preserved fully contemporary copy in its original fragile paper boards. Our author, anatomist and naturalist Louis Jean-Marie Daubenton (1716-1800), had collaborated with Buffon on his "Histoire Naturelle," for which he provided anatomical descriptions of 182 quadrupeds, earning as a result a reputation as an expert in comparative anatomy. In the present work, first published in 1782, he focuses on sheep, a subject in which he had a vested interest, having introduced the Merino breed to France in an effort to improve the country's wool industry. The text covers all aspects of sheep breeding, anatomy, and husbandry, and is accompanied by engravings of cheerful shepherds at their work, the processing of wool, dissected sheep organs, and related images. These are attractively rendered, offering visual appeal as well as scientific and agricultural data. Our third edition, the first published following Daubenton's death, includes an introductory biography by Étienne de Lacépède, which he had delivered as a speech at the National Museum of Natural History. While "Instruction Pour les Bergers" appears in the market with some regularity, the present exceptionally bright, wide-margined, partly unopened copy in contemporary boards is an unusually appealing copy of this work. (ST20800)
Price: $450.00