[LIGNAC, Joseph Adrien Le Large de].
Lettres à un Amériquain sur l'histoire naturelle, générale et particuliere de monsieur de Buffon.
"Hambourg" [Paris?], 1751-1756. 9 volumes. 12mo. With woodcut initials, ornaments and decorative lettering. Contemporary uniform mottled calf, gold-tooled spines. [2], 127, [1], 50; [2], 66, [2], 66, [2]; [2], 31, [1], 96, 69, [1]; [2], 78, [2], 92; [2], 185, [1]; 238, [2]; [2], 238, [2]; [2], 258, [2]; [2], 276, [2] pp.
€ 1,750
First edition of Lignac's wide-ranging scientific correspondence: letters to an anonymous (fictitious?) American. "Regardé comme le plus savant des écrits de l'auteur; (il) comprend dix lettres sur les principes hypothétiques de Buffon, la construction et la cause du mouvement des planètes, la construction de la surface de la Terre, l'origine des coquillages fossiles, l'idée de la construction animale, l'histoire naturelle de l'homme, la méthaphysique de Buffon, les observations faites par Needham, etc." (NBG). The typography of the first five volumes is eccentric, with the word 'Lettres' on the title-page in a woodcut textura with the L integrated into the decorative frame around the whole word, and large lowercase initials and headings. Binding with some minor flaws. A good set of this very rare work. Barbier II, col. 1222; Cobres, p. 210; Sabin 41054; for the author: NBG XXXI, col. 199.
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