Georges Cuvier (French 1769-1832) – Originally Hand-Colored Engraving 0f Butterflies From His Le Regne Animal Distribue d’apres son Organisation, circa 1817-1849 with Relevant Page From Original Printing

Georges Cuvier is credited with proving that extinction occurred. He was a French naturalist and zoologist who established the sciences of comparative anatomy and paleontology. His name is one of the 72 featured on the Eiffel Tower of French scientists, engineers, and mathematicians. “[Cuvier’s) vast communication network, huge world-wide collections, and extensive ichthyological library, made Paris the center of ichthyology and Cuvier the foremost ichthyologist in the world” (T.W. Pietsch in ‘Archives of Nat. Hist, 12, 1’)

This originally hand-colored engraving is from Georges Cuvier’s Le Regne Animal Distribue d’apres son Organisation or The Animal Kingdom, Distributed According to Its Organization. The prints from this work feature beautiful original hand-coloring, and some of the fish are heightened with silver and gold. The work was published in Paris by Fortin and Masson in 1817-1849. It is the “first truly complete work in the history of comparative anatomy.”
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Cuvier’s Animal Kingdom was “the most influential exposition of the typological approach to animal classification, representing the greatest body of zoological facts that had yet been assembled; it served as the standard zoological manual for most of Europe during the first half of the nineteenth century.” (Norman 567)

Country of Origin: France.

Artist: Georges Cuvier (French 1769-1832).

Medium: Originally Hand-colored Engraving.

Size: 10 1/2 by 6 1/2 inches.

Date Published: 1817-1849

Condition: This work is in Very Good Antique Condition overall. There are a few faint marks and some foxing scattered in the work. Please review the images carefully.

Literature: Le Regne Animal Distribue d’apres son Organisation or Animal Kingdom.

***Please note that the physical colors of this item may vary from the pictures in the listing, given the quality of the camera, the lighting and the background used.