Histoire naturelle comprenant les cétacées, les quadrupèdes ovipares, les serpents et les poissons. Nouvelle édition [...].

2 vol., 4to; 36 pl. (text n.c., some dispersed spotting not affecting the plates).

Contemp. quarter calf, marbled paper over covers, gilt-orn. and blind-st. spine with raised bands (corners bumped, sides and covers shaved, joints starting to split, head and tail sl. restored).

Ill. with 36 hand-coloured and partly lacquered plates (protected by tissue guards) figuring cetaceans, snakes, fish and sometimes dramatic scenes (whale fishing, crocodile devouring an African boy, boa smothering a gazelle, etc.). Preceded by an elegy by Cuvier about Lacépède and notes by Desmarest. Vol. 2 completely devoted to fish.
Ref. Nissen (ZBI) 2346.