Lesson’s Histoire naturelle… Oiseaux-Mouches… – Three Volumes with 218 Bird Engravings

These three volumes with 218 decorative, hand-colored copper-plate engravings. The volumes are entitled Histoire Naturelle des Colibris, suivie d’un Supplement a L’Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux-Mouches, Histoire naturelle des oiseaux-mouches, and Les Trochilidées ou Les Colibris et les Oiseaux-Mouches. The volumes were published in Paris by Rignoux Arthus Bertrand between 1829 and 1833.

Rene Primevere Lesson’s work preceded Gould’s by more than 20 years. Lesson, a French naturalist and explorer, traveled on la Coquile and became enthralled with the remarkable birds. He employed top natural history artists, Pretre and Bevalat, to create the drawings for his noted work.