Orbigny: Botany
Charles d'Orbigny (1806~76) was a French naturalist. His father Charles Marie (1770~1856) was a doctor in the French army and his elder brother Alcide (1802~1857) was a famous naturalist and paleontologist. Charles started his studies at La Rochelle then left to study medicine in Paris. In 1834, he won an appointment in the geology department at the National Museum of Natural History. From 1837 to 1864 he headed the department of natural history, until ill health forced him to quit. He died in Paris on Feb. 14, 1876, and is buried in Pere Lachaise cemetery.
His major work was the Dictionnaire Universel d'Histoire Naturelle, a lavishly illustrated survey of known animals and plants designed to appeal to both academics and the general public. Charles directed and edited articles by more than 50 prominent scientists and writers, including his brother Alcide. The plates were engraved by Fournier, Teillard, Oudet, Annedouche, Pierre, Corbié, and others, after drawings by some of the best artists of the era including Traviès, Werner, Prêtre, Oudart, Maubert, Baron, Delarue and Vaillant. The huge, 16-volume work was first published in 1841-1849 and included 3 volumes of engravings, 288 illustrations covering flowers, birds, mammals, insects, fishes and shells. It is known as the greatest natural history work of the mid-19th century, and shows the state of natural science at the time. In his Introduction to the Literature of Vertebrate Zoology (1931), Casey Wood calls it "the best illustrated encyclopedia of natural history." The illustrations combine precise, finely colored portraits of the subjects with black-and-white engravings of leaves, seeds, fruits and other details.
Most of the plates in the botanical section were drawn by Edouard Maubert (1806~1879) and engraved by Fournier. Maubert was botanical artist to the Natural History Museum in Paris, and drew the plates for Lemaire's Iconographie des Cactees (1841), Boott's Illustrations of the Genus Carex (1858), Jaubert's Illustrationes Plantarum Orientalium (1842), Linden's Pescatorea, Iconographie des Orchidees (1860) and Audot's Choix des Plus Belles Roses (1845).
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Book: Dictionnaire d'Histoire Naturelle
Book History: 1849
Author: Charles d'Orbigny
Dimensions: 15 x 24.5cm
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