1771 Bee-Eater, De Seve, ornithology, large quarto edition, engraving

A finely hand coloured plate from the Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux, Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon's major work, Histoire Naturelle Generale et Particuliere Avec la Description du Cabinet du Roi.

Jacques de Sève (Active 1742 –1788) was a French artist and illustrator. 

De Sève was commissioned by Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon to provide the illustrations for Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière (1749-1778, in 36 volumes) and then Buffon's Recueil de Vingtquatre Plantes et Fleurs (1772). He also illustrated work by Duhamel du Monceau, Claude Perrault and parts of Encyclopédie Méthodique. 

25.2 x 18 cm

Light age toning to outer margins.

The bee-eaters are a group of birds in the family Meropidae, containing three genera and thirty species. Most species are found in Africa and Asia, with a few in southern Europe, Australia, and New Guinea. They are characterised by richly coloured plumage, slender bodies, and usually elongated central tail feathers.