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DAUBENTON, Louis-Jean-Marie

Instruction pour les bergers et pour les propriétaires de troupeaux [...]

Paris
Ph. D. Pierres
1782

€260 - €380

8°, xvi, 414, [2] pp, 22 engr. plates, some waterst. in margins of beginning and end of the book, cont. mottled half calf, gilt orn. flat spine, red edges (slightly rubbed). Nice copy

First edition of this classic monograph by the French naturalist and contributor to the ""Encyclopédie"" Daubenton (1716-1800). Ill. with 22 engr. pl. by Patas and Queverdo after Fossier. The work is written in the form of question-and-answer and printed in large type: ""j'ai éprouvé que les gens de la campagne qui font peu d'usage des livres, ont moins de peine à lire de gros caractères, que de petits [...]"" (p. vii). At that time, France was trying to produce quality wools to compete with English wools. It was Daubenton who successfully introduced Spanish merino sheep to France to improve the quality of French production. Ref. Conlon 82:999.

Natural History Agriculture