Francois Levaillant and the Birds of Africa (Hardcover)

Intrepid traveller, pioneering naturalist, famous author, Francois Levaillant (1753-1824) was a celebrity in his own lifetime. The colourful accounts of his travels in southern Africa in the 1780s were widely read in seven languages. His sumptuous bird books, published in a golden age of natural history book production, recorded for posterity his extensive bird collections. Yet he has often been dismissed as a flamboyant Gallic adventurer with a cavalier regard for the truth. This new study seeks to re-examine this controversial figure against the backdrop of the world of natural history and its practice in the late European Enlightenment. The potent mix of science and commerce is reflected in Levaillant's fascinated pursuit of knowledge of the animal kingdom and his active trade in specimens during the social and political upheavals of the early 18th century.

Hardcover. English. The Brenthurst Press. 2004. ISBN: 9780909079598. 484 pp with 58 original watercolour paintings, mostly of birds of prey, the prototypes of published engravings in Oiseaux d'Afrique. Painted with brilliant clarity under Levaillant's supervision, these illustrations are reproduced at actual size to the highest standards with fold-out map at rear. Good with dw in protective plastic. Book No: 2504068