Nouvelles observations sur les abeilles.

8vo: [2]-368 pp.; 2 pl.

Contemp. tree-calf signed Chapron, gilt-orn. border on covers, gilt-orn. flat spine, marbled edges (corners sl. shaved, sm. def. to head). Mod. jacket and slipcase.

First edition of this fundamental work on apiculture in form of letters to Charles Bonnet by the Swiss entomologist specialized in honey bees (1750-1831). Ill. with 2 engr. pl. Huber turned blind at early age but that didn't stop him in his research for which he fully relied on his wife Marie Aimée Lullin (1751-1822) and his fully committed servant François Burnens (1760-1837). It led Huber to the theory that the fertilization of the queen bee occurs outside the hive. This and all the other results of the elaborate team observations were published in a well-received work that even Charles Darwin commented in his famous "On the origin of species".
Ref. BnF.