Large paper copy. First edition in the preferred folio format of this celebrated work, which stands in the front rank of ornithological books.

An excellent copy of Levaillant's celebrated Histoire Naturelle des Perroquets, illustrated with 145 hand-finished etched colour-plates after original drawings by the French artist Jacques Barraband (d.1809), often considered one of the most beautiful colour-plate books of Napoleonic France. This copy has the title of volume one in its first state, with the date An IX (1801).

'After he had made himself Emperor, it was part of Napoleon's deliberate policy to initiate a series of magnificent publications that would vie with those undertaken to the orders of Louis XIV. These were sent as presents to crowned heads, men of science, and learned bodies, in evidence of the splendours of the Empire. In this manner many glorious books came into being, and it is in this light that we should see Redouté's Les Liliacées and his two works on the flowers of La Malmaison. The works of Levaillant owe their sumptuous character to the same impetus' (Fine Bird Books).

Levaillant (1753-1824) inherited a passion for observation and travel from his childhood in Dutch Guiana, where his father was the French consul. He returned to France with his family, where he eventually became a merchant of natural history specimens. At 27, he travelled to Southern Africa with the Dutch East India Company, likely sponsored by Jacob Temminck to collect specimens for his collection. Levaillant was among the first explorer-naturalists to venture into the field to see and study birds in their natural habitats, resulting in some of the finest ornithological works ever produced. He was also a pioneer of travel writing; his colourful accounts of his journeys describe him as wearing 'court suits of "Blue-Boy" silk, with white gloves, ostrich-plume hat, and lace ruffs' to show respect for the animals he hunted (Fine Bird Books). He writes extensively about his close relationships with African companions and condemns the Dutch for their violence against Indigenous people in the region. His work is also notable for his use of French descriptive names for birds such as La Perrouche à face bleue, as opposed to the standard binomial nomenclature introduced by Carl Linnaeus.

The artist Jacques Barraband had honed his skills as a draughtsman at the renowned Gobelins tapestry manufacturer in Paris, allowing him to create illustrations unparalleled in their delicacy and beauty. His drawings for the present work were printed in colour by Langlois, the great master of French colour printing in the early 19th century. The names of three of the birds described commemorate the artists involved in the production of the plates: Barraband, Langlois, and Bouquet, who executed the engravings.

First edition, first state; 2 vols; folio (53 x 35 cm); half-titles, 145 etched plates after illustrations by Jacques Barraband printed in colour and finished by hand, table of contents to end of each vol., occasional light spotting, mostly to margins; contemporary burgundy straight-grained morocco gilt, upper and lower panels with wide gilt borders of palmettes, enclosing Meander roll in blind and inner gilt panel, gilt spine in 7 compartments, all edges gilt, minor restoration to corners and spine caps, each vol. housed in red cloth clamshell case with contrasting black calf lettering-pieces to spine.

Anker 303; Fine Bird Books p.90; Zimmer p.392.