AUDEBERT (JEAN BAPTISTE) AND LOUIS JEAN PIERRE VIEILLOT


[Oiseaux dorés ou à reflets métalliques:] Histoire naturelle et générale des colibris, oiseaux-mouches, jacamars et promerops. II: ...des grimpereaux et des oiseaux de paradis, 2 vol., FIRST EDITION, ONE OF 200 FOLIO COPIES, WITH THE CAPTIONS PRINTED IN GOLD, 190 etched plates by Audebert, printed in gold and colours by Langlois and finished by hand (one double-page, numbered 1-70, 1-6, 1-9; 1-12, 1-88, 26 bis, 13-16), light marginal spotting throughout (occasionally affecting image in volume 2), nineteenth century red half morocco, gilt panelled spines with 3 tooled raised bands, extremities rubbed [Anker 14; Fine Bird Books, p.56; Nissen IVB 47; Wood, p.206; Zimmer, p.17], folio (510 x 330mm.), Paris, Desray, [1800]-1802
|"The colours of the birds and their handsome appearance have evidently been the cause of their selection for inclusion in the book... in this respect they are among the best colour prints found in ornithology" (Anker). The fine plates were printed in gold and colours using a process invented by Audebert, who etched the plates after his own designs and those of "les plus habiles artistes de Paris". He undertook the colouring with the assistance of Louis Bouquet, and they were printed in oil colours by Langlois. Audebert died after finishing the first section on the colibris, but the work was completed by Viellot from Audebert's drawings and his notes on the oiseaux-mouches. The present folio edition was accompanied by a quarto version with the captions printed in black, whilst twelve copies were printed with the entire text in gold.Provenance: Wheldon & Wesley, 20 January 1963.