PBA Galleries

2 parts in 1 volume. xxii, 379, [1]; [iv], 84, cvii, [1] pp. 38 engraved plates, including engraved title. (4to) 11x8½, period full calf, modern rebacking with original spine leather laid down, corners restored. Second Edition.

First published in 1742, revised here in the second edition with the addition of several plates. Antoine-Joseph Dezallier d'Argenville (1680–1765) was a French courtier, intellectual and amateur natural historian. "This work illustrated with beautiful plates, was a great success. D'Argenville profited from the eighteenth century's infatuation with the natural sciences and, indeed, contributed to the vogue by publishing descriptions of the most notable exhibits of natural history in Paris and the provinces". (DSB).