Book Description

This collection of readings, published for the first time in any language, presents a selection of critical responses to the original publication of the Natural History by George Louis Le Clere, Comte de Buffon (1697-1788). Comments by Albrecht von Haller, Lamoignon de Malesherbes, H�ault de S�chelles, and anonymous reviews from leading periodicals of the period are included. Substantial selections from the first volumes of the Natural History itself, and important documents from Buffon's earlier works are also included. As much as possible, the authors have used entire selections, rather than brief excerpts. "This scholarly and conscientious book makes an important . . . contribution to the study and interpretation of Buffon, and so, too, to the Enlightenment generally. What John Lyon and Phillip Sloan have done is present English texts under four headings, so that we have successively: a selection from Buffon's writings prior to the first (1749) volumes of his Histoire naturelle; pieces from these first volumes of 1749; immediate responses by the earliest critics, writing about the 1749 texts, and finally H�rault de S�chelles' essay on Buffon, Voyage a Montbard. Much of the material is in translations made by Lyon and Sloan themselves, and in many cases the texts are ones not previously translated into English. Moreover, at every turn Lyon and Sloan have provided highly informative notes and commentary. In a substantial and original introduction, they have discussed the nature of Buffon's natural history especially from an epistemological point of view. . . . The translations by Lyon and Sloan quite rightly put accuracy before stylistic appeal. . . . Altogether, then, the book is a very welcome addition to the Buffon literature." --Medical History "[This] volume of selected translations from Buffon and his commentators focuses on Buffon as a central figure in the French Enlightenment. . . . [T]he readings are unified and enlivened by the common theme reflected in the title and highlighted in the long scholarly introduction. . . . [T]he texts trace Buffon's early work through the publication of the first three volumes of the History naturelle in 1749 and record that work's immediate reception." --Isis