Nautilus Shell

This original illustration is from Payan du Moulin’s manuscript entitled Recueil d’Histoire Naturelle, Coquiller Vivanty et folliles minerologie.. It was completed in 1875 in Aix. Each illustration is either on laid, watermarked paper or quality woven paper and typically of sea life or ammonite native to France.

The illustrations were after the collection of Payan du Moulin or found at Labedoule. Some are after illustrations by Picot, Laperouse, Creyn, Knorr, Walch, and Juan Fernandes. Many of the notes on the specimens are recorded to the page and were done by Professor Charles Lory of Grenoble University, a French Geologist.

Payan du Moulin was a councillor at the court at Aix and an Officer in Charge of Public Instruction. He was strongly influenced by Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species and this is reflected in his natural history work.