BRISSON, M. J.

Paris, A. Boudet, 1760. 4to. XXIV,22,27-526,LXXIII,(3) pp. & 1 folded sheet in folio with 3 printed tables numbered 24-26 & 37 folding engraved plates + (4),516,LXIV pp. & 46 folding engraved plates + (4),734,XCI,(1) pp. & 37 folding engraved plates + (4),576,LIV,(2) pp. & 46 folding engraved plates + (4),544,LV,(1) pp. & 42 folding engraved plates + (4),543,(1),LXV,(3) pp. & 47 folding engraved plates + 146,XXII,(2) pp. & 6 folding engraved plates. With 6 engraved titles included in the collation, engraved armorial headpiece vignette to dedication in volume I, and woodcut head- and tailpieces and initials. An attractive set, six volumes in contemporary full mottled calf. Spines in compartments with raised bands, decorated in gilt, with red morocco labels lettered in gilt. Spines a little scuffed and rubbed, with some wear at head and tail, notably to volumes III, IV and V which are nicked and cracked along upper and lower joints. Surfaces somewhat scuffed and scratched, extremities bumped and lightly worn. Front free endpaper of volume I excised. Large folding table at gathering G of volume I with old repair to large tear, with the outer edges of plate XV a little frayed, p. 159 of volume II with large horizontal tear at tail touching a couple of letters but with no loss, upper corner of p. 531 of volume IV repaired, vertical tear at one fold of plate XXXII in volume VI not touching image. A few leaves browned with some occasional foxing and soiling, more noticeable in volume III, and in volume V, with particular soiling to plates XVI, XIX, XXXII and XLII. With the signature of J. Liljestråle, the bookplates of Christian Hammer, Bengt Bellander’s bookplates, the signature of Gustaf Brun dated 1937, and the signature of Gunnar Brusewitz. Lacking two final index leaves in volume II.

Anker Bird books and bird art 69. Zimmer Catalogue of the Edward E. Ayer Ornithological Library I p. 94. Wood An introduction to the literature of vertebrate zoology 257. Nissen Die illustrierten Vogelbücher 145. Titles also in Latin on verso of the engraved title leaves (”Ornithologia, sive synopsis methodica sistens avium divisionem in ordines [...]”), and with bilingual text throughout. In part I, pp. 47-50 are printed in folio and folded. First edition of one of the most important early systematic ornithologies, by a contemporary of Linnaeus. This work far surpassed most of its predecessors, and is considered a model of method in observation and description to modern ornithologists. Brisson classified 1336 species in addition to 150 varieties distributed over 115 genera, which he grouped in 26 orders. Indeed, Brisson’s exhaustively ”subdivided system approaches our own more closely than any attempt made in the following eighty years” according to Erwinn Stresemann. Although John Ray and Francis Willughby had previously attempted such a comprehensive work, Brisson had the luxury of access to an extensive collection of specimens, being responsible for overseeing the vast private natural history cabinet of the French collector René-Antoine Frechault de Réaumur, whose private collection of well preserved bird skins was the largest in Europe. The fine illustrations are the work of François Nicolaus Martinet with over 500 birds, on 261 plates, a number of which had not been illustrated before. The plates were arranged so as to fold out beyond the text for easy reference. Martinet went on to illustrate the other great 18th-century French ornithology, Buffon’s famous ”Histoire naturelle des oiseaux” (1770-1786). The first owner Joachim Wilhelm Liliestråle (1721-1807) was a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. His well-selected library was sold at an auction in Uppsala in 1831. Liliestråle’s manor was Låstad in Södermanland, and according to Brusewitz, the Swedish ornithologist Pehr Gustaf Tengmalm (1754-1803) worked there as a tutor in the 1770s, at the same time studying birds in the wild. After graduating in medicine in Uppsala, Tengmalm continued his studies, in particular on owls, and he gave name to the species Tengmalm’s owl, with the earlier Linnaean name ”Strix tengmalmi”.