Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (1707-1788).

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Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière, avec la description du Cabinet du roi... Paris: De l'Imprimerie royale, 1749-1804.

36 vols.

Buffon, born Georges-Louis Leclerc to middle-class parents, received an inheritance that propelled him to the aristocracy and exposed him to the intellectual elite in Paris. Though steered towards a career in law by his father, Buffon developed an early interest in mathematics that led to his scientific pursuits. He translated Stephen Hales's landmark Vegetable Statiks into French (1734), and also prepared a French edition of Newton's The Method of Fluxions and Infinite Series (1736).

The present volume, Histoire des oiseaux, was translated into English in 1812. It includes classic illustrations characteristic of the 18th century, and shows that a comprehensive treatment of natural history was to include all aspects of the natural world. In addition to birds, Buffon wrote on mineralogy, botany, and zoology.

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The History of Singing Birds: Containing an Exact Description of their Habits & Customs, & their Manner of Constructing their Nests, their Times of Incubation, with the Peculiar Excellencies of their Several Songs, the Method of Rearing them in Cages & the Preparation and Choice of their Food, also the Disorders they are Subject to with the Mode of Treatment. Edinburgh: Silvester Doig Royal Exchange, 1791.

This text is a translation from the author's Histoire naturelle des oiseaux. Well-known in both France and England for his contributions to the sciences and mathematics, Buffon was widely read.