Art de faire éclorre et d’élever en toute saison des oiseaux domestiques

Paris: Imprimerie Royale, 1751. Engraved headpieces and 16 folding engraved plates. Contemporary mottled calf, spines and labels gilt, red edges, green silk markers (crowns chipped). A pretty, fresh set. Second edition of one of the earliest books on hatching and raising chicks. The first volume describes using ovens as hatcheries and how to properly build them; Reaumur invented this form of artificial incubation. The second focuses on hatched chicks: introducing hens to them, what to feed them, and different methods of rearing them and their advantages and disadvantages. The final part supplies games and amusements for poultry farmers to play with their birds; according to the author, happy birds lay more eggs, and happy farmers have more productive farms. The text refers often to the copious illustrations, and in this edition, not just the plates, but the engraved headpieces feature figure numbers for text references (very unusual!).

Nissen 3314; Sander 1657.