Voyage de M. Le Vaillant dans lintérieur de lAfrique vente par le Cap de Bonne-Esper

Voyage de M. Le Vaillant dans linterieur de lAfrique, par le Cap de Bonne-Esperance, vol.2; 6 engravings.,

1st ed., 1790, French

Paris, Leroy, 1790. volume II, 399 pp., 6 Etchings on separate plates.

Leather binding, gold decoration and lettering. Red edges. Size: 20 x 13 cm.

Some wear and rubbing to edges of cover; internally good condition; some small damages.

Account of the first trip to Africa by François Levaillant (1753-1824), made in 1780-March 1783. This naturalist will stay a second time in this region in 1783-1785 (the account of this second stay will be published in 1795). Trained as an ornithologist, he collected many bird specimens during his travels. On his return, he will write ornithological books, including a "Natural History of African Birds" in 6 volumes. Contains in particular anthropological details, a vocabulary of natural history in French-Dutch-Hottentot (t. II, pp.151-153), as well as a description of giraffes (end of t. II).

Francois Levaillant (born Vaillant, later in life as Le Vaillant, "The Valiant") (6 August 1753 – 22 November 1824) was a French author, explorer, naturalist, zoological collector, and noted ornithologist. He described many new species of birds based on birds he collected in Africa and several birds are named after him. He was among the first to use colour plates for illustrating birds and opposed the use of binomial nomenclature introduced by Carl Linnaeus, preferring instead to use descriptive French names such as the bateleur (meaning "tumbler or tight-rope walker") for the distinctive African eagle.