GROUP OF THREE HANDCOLORED ENGRAVINGS OF BIRD FRANCOIS NICHOLAS MARTINET, WITH A THIRD LATER HANDCOLORED PRINT AFTER THE P WILLIAM HAYES,18th & 19th Century. The pair from Histoire Naturelle Des Oiseaux, a collection of 1,008 hand colored bird prints edited by Georges-Louis Marie Leclerc, the Count of Buffon. This was one of two major Buffon works, collectively the most comprehensive French natural history sets of their time. Histoire Naturelle Des Oiseaux was published in 42 fascicles from 1765 to 1780 by Edme Louis Daubenton in collaboration with Buffon, illustrated with engravings by Martinet.
The third, a handcolored reproduction of the Spoonbill plate from William Hayes (1735-1802), Natural History Bird Studies from Portraits of the Curious Exotic Birds, 1817. Lacking the title. - The pair: 9 1/2" x 8" sight, 16" x 14" framed. The remaining 10 3/4" x 8 3/4" sight, 17" x 14" framed. Estimate $300-400
PROVENANCE: Professor John Hirschfield, Baltimore, MD
