Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc | Les Epoques de la nature...

Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, Comte de

Epoques de la nature... Paris: Imprimerie Royale, 1780

2 vols, 12mo (162 x 102 mm). Half-titles, 6 engraved plates, 2 folding engraved maps. Contemporary pink boards; light fading, extremities a bit worn, boards lightly rubbed, spines and labels chipped.

First separate edition of this important work that first appeared in the fifth volume of Buffon's Natural History. It "contains Buffon's theory of the earth, his history of nature divided into seven geologically and biologically based epochs, and his attempt to establish a universal chronology based upon observation and experiment. In Buffon's system, life first appeared nearly 35000 years ago, but man's time on earth had lasted only 6000 years — a period intentionally coincident with biblical chronology. The Epoques established the intellectual framework in which most natural historians would work up until the time of Darwin" (Norman).

REFERENCES

Norman 1:370; Wellcome 2:268

PROVENANCE

Haskell F. Norman (bookplate; Christie's New York, 15 June 1998, lot 339)