Regne Animal First Edition - Georges Cuvier - Bauman Rare Books

Regne Animal

Georges CUVIER

Item#: 60000 We're sorry, this item has been sold

Regne Animal

“THE FIRST TRULY COMPLETE WORK IN THE HISTORY OF COMPARATIVE ANATOMY”: FIRST EDITION OF BARON CUVIER’S LE RÈGNE ANIMAL

CUVIER, Georges. Le Règne Animal. Paris: Deterville, 1817. Four volumes. Octavo, contemporary three-quarter pebbled brown cloth, marbled boards.

First edition of this founding work of modern comparative anatomy, with 15 engraved plates of demonstrating comparative anatomy.

Cuvier’s Animal Kingdom was “the most influential exposition of the typological approach to animal classification, representing the greatest body of zoological facts that had yet been assembled; it served as the standard zoological manual for most of Europe during the first half of the nineteenth century” (Norman 567). Georges Cuvier completely reorganized the comparative anatomy collections of the Musée d’Histoire Naturelle-at the time, the world’s largest institution dedicated to scientific research. This huge museum menagerie furnished Cuvier with invaluable specimens for dissection and anatomical preparations of mammals, birds, fish and fossils. Cuvier first published his classification scheme in his Leçons (1800-05), which was “the first truly complete work in the history of comparative anatomy. Whereas his predecessors had at best applied comparison to select groups of animals, Cuvier consistently attempted to employ it in his study of every known animal or species. Comparative anatomy became for Cuvier an essential segment of the theoretical basis of natural history” (Coleman, 62). The work is divided into the following categories: Volumes I-V, Mammalia; VI-VIII, Aves; IX, Reptilla; X, Pisces; XI, Fossil Remains; XII, Mollusca and Radiata; XIII, Annelida, Crustacea and Arachnida; XIV-XV, Insecta; XVI, Index and Synopsis. The sections on crustaceans, spiders and insects were prepared by leading entomologist Pierre-André Latreille, head of the entomological department at the Musée d’Histoire Naturelle and successor to Lamarck as professor of entomology. Text in French. Norman 567. PMM 276. Dibner 195. Library bookplates.

Very minor scattered spotting. Only light rubbing to extremities of boards. A handsome, near fine set.

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