1766 Engraving De Seve, Buffon's Quadrupeds Pl. XXVII BARBARY GROUND SQUIRREL

Description: 1766 Copperplate EngravingJaques De Seve, From Buffon, Plate XVII, 1st Edition!L' ECUREUIL BARBARESQUE(BARBARY GROUND SQUIRREL)This wonderful squirrel engraving is from Buffon's famed Histoire Naturelle, générale et particulière, avec la description du Cabinet du Roi (English: Natural History, General and Particular, with a Description of the King's Cabinet).The Artist: Jacques E. De Seve (French, fl. 1742 - 1788). Jacques E. De Seve, also listed as Jacques Eustache de Seve, was the principal artist commissioned by Georges-Louis Leclerec, Comte de Buffon to illustrate 'Histoire Naturelle, Generale Et Particuliere, avec la Description du Cabinet du Roi' from 1749 to 1760. He also produced illustrations for 'Encyclopedie Methodique', from 1774 to 1832.J. E. De Seve was more artist than naturalist, He was not content to simply portray his animals in a dry and factual manner. Rather, he insisted on providing full backgrounds, including classical landscapes. One writer comments, The illustrations to Buffon's original edition are exquisitely engraved and exude aristocratic elegance and charm.The Author: Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (1707-1788) was a French naturalist, mathematician, cosmologist, and encyclopédiste. His works influenced the next two generations of naturalists, including two prominent French scientists Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and Georges Cuvier. Buffon published thirty-six quarto volumes of his Histoire Naturelle during his lifetime, with additional volumes based on his notes and further research being published in the two decades following his death.The Publication: Comte de Buffon's "Histoire Naturelle, Generale Et Particuliere, avec la Description du Cabinet du Roi" (Natural History, General and Specific with the Description of the King's Cabinet). This is an encyclopaedic collection of 36 large (quarto) volumes written between 1749–1804, initially by the Comte de Buffon, and continued in eight more volumes after his death by his colleagues, led by Bernard Germain de Lacépède. The books cover what was known of the "natural sciences" at the time, including what would now be called material science, physics, chemistry and technology as well as the natural history of animals.The Technique: This is a Copperplate Engraving, the original, labor-intensive technique used in the very finest botanical & natural history plates, from Pierre-Joseph Redouté's Les Roses to William Curtis's Flora Londinensis.The printing method, called 'Intaglio', is similar to the way etchings are made, but requires consummate craft of a master metalworker who engraves every line & shading into the copper with a sharp steel point, faithfully following the original watercolor painting which the plate is to reproduce. It's a process which could take many months for one plate. Once complete, ink is rubbed into the incised lines, while the rest of the plate is wiped clean, leaving only the engraved lines inked.The plate is then run through a hand-cranked press, together with the sheet of paper to be printed, between rollers under high pressure. The paper is forced into the engraved lines to pick up the ink in each fine groove, transferring ink to paper, resulting in a reproduced image of unparalleled precision & clarity.Needless to say, every part of these prints was made by hand: Hand drawn & engraved on hand-mined, smelted & rolled copper, printed onto handmade cotton rag paper, inked & colored with hand-ground pigments.The Animal:The Barbary ground squirrel (Atlantoxerus getulus) is a species in the family Sciuridae.It is is found on the Barbary Coast of Western Sahara, Morocco and Algeria on the seaward side of the Atlas Mountains, and has been introduced into the Canary Islands.Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, temperate grassland and rocky areas where it lives colonially in burrows.It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. Text Page(s): I don't possess the text page for this one.Condition: This one appears to be in near pristine condition with little toning & no offsetting that I can see. The detail remains sharp & beautiful as the day it was printed. Quite glorious to my eye.These prints are very old & may have typical minor imperfections expected with age & the handmade paper & technique, artifacts from having been bound into volumes, etc. Please examine the photos & details carefully.Shipping: This one will go in a flat-rate envelope with stiffeners. Additional prints can be combined at no extra shipping cost.Dimensions: Approximately 10 by 7-1/2 inches Thanks for Visiting!

Price: 64 USD

Location: Great Barrington, Massachusetts

End Time: 2024-09-06T03:40:18.000Z

Shipping Cost: 8.95 USD