Histoire naturelle générale des pigeons et des gallinacés; par C. J. Temminck, Chevalier de l'Ordre Impérial de la Réunion, Directeur de la Société des Sciences à Harlem, et membre de plusieurs Sociétés d'Histoire naturelle. Ouvrage en trois volumes. Accompagné de planches anatomiques. Tome premier - second - troisième. [Complete].

Amsterdam, J. C. Sepp & Fils, Paris, G. Dufour, 1813-1815. Three volumes in three. 8vo (22.5 x 13.5 cm). 1736 pp. [499, (i); 477, (i); 757, (i)], 12 engraved plates ([I]; I-III; IV-XI). Uniform 19th-century half calf over marbled boards. Spines with gilt-rolled, floral bands; tan morocco labels with gilt title, and red, gilt-bordered morocco label with gilt number. = This is the complete text, as intended by the most influential and famous Dutch ornithologist, Coenraad Jacob Temminck (1778-1858), for the Parisian published Histoire naturelle générale des pigeons; par C. J. Temminck, Directeur de l'Académie Royale des Sciences et des Arts de Harlem, et membre de plusieurs Sociétés d'Histoire naturelle. Avec figures en couleurs, peintes par madamoiselle Pauline de Courcelles, gravées, imprimées et retouchées sous sa direction (1808-1811), which was published in 12 copies only, as the illustrator, Pauline Knip, née de Courcelles 'kidnapped' the work, much altered the text, and provided a new title, Les pigeons par Madame Knip née Pauline de Courcelles, premier peintre d'histoire naturelle de S. M. l'Impératrice Reine Marie-Louise [Napoléon]. Le texte par C. J. Temminck. Temminck, living in Leiden, 500 kilometres north of Paris, remained unaware of this for a long time, because he received a few unaltered copies. Co-operation with Madame Knip was terminated, and the plate atlas for the gallinacés was never published, but these volumes do contain all the text. From a taxonomical and nomenclatural point of view, the present work is the most important, as it contains new descriptions and new, valid names. The third volume was published two years after the first, and by that time, after the end of the Napoleonic era, the 'Ordre Impérial de la Réunion' established by Napoleon in 1811, had lost its significance, hence it was omitted in the third title. Tiny label of F. H. Danner, bookbinder in Utrecht, mounted on rear pastedowns. In the rear, the publisher added a leaf with the short title printed thrice, for library reference purposes; in all parts, the lower two have been cut out, as to be expected. Boards a bit rubbed at joints; otherwise, a near mint set. Very rare. Nissen IVB, 931; Zimmer, pp. 625-626.