Jean-Baptiste AUDEBERT (Rochefort, 1759 - Paris,... Lot 63

Jean-Baptiste AUDEBERT (Rochefort, 1759 - Paris, 1800) & Louis-Pierre VIEILLOT (Yvetot, 1748 - Sotteville-lès-Rouen, 1830) Birds gilded or with metallic reflections. Natural history of hummingbirds, hummingbirds, jacamars and promerops. Natural and general history of creepers and birds of paradise. In Paris, at Desray, bookshop, rue Hautefeuille, n°36. Year XI = 1802. From the Imprimerie de Crapelet. A volume of text and a volume of atlases, both large in-4°. (340 x 250 mm). Full flamed blond calf; framing wheel with vegetal motif; spine without nerves struck with four special "birdlike" irons, designed by Bozérian; title and tomaison pieces of red morocco; speckled edges. Bookbinding by the publisher, attributable to Bozérian Aîné's workshop. Engraved bookplate of Emperor Napoleon III. Collation: Text: (2 leaves), XII pages, 156 pages, 8 pages, 57 pages, 164 pages, 55 pages. Atlas: (2 leaves), 70 plates; 6 plates; 9 plates (1 of which is double); 89 plates (numbered 88, but there is one plate 28bis); 16 plates (plates 8, 9, 13, 15 and 16 are double; plate 14, quadruple measures 660 x 470 mm). Altogether 190 plates protected by snakes. (Minor defects at the corners. Rubbed lower cuts. Scorching on the quadruple board and on the snakes). Provenance: - Ex-libris from the personal library of Emperor Napoleon III; - Breton library. Certificate of free circulation. One of the one hundred large in-4° format copies of the first bird book to be printed in color using a technique developed by Audebert and Redouté. Extended by the expert Paul Veyssière on rouillac.com. References : - René Ronsil : L'Art français dans le livre d'oiseaux. (Pages 33, 34, 35). - Carine Picaud : Article Audebert, in Des livres rares depuis l'invention de l'imprimerie. BNF. (N°108) : "The jewel of this golden age of French ornithological iconography, the work of J.B. Audebert and L.P. Vieillot is about birds with golden or silver plumage