326 Richmond, On the Date of Lacepede's ' Tableaux^ 



TAuk 



LOct. 



any one who has access to the work, will be very acceptable to 

 ornithologists. 



Not long since, having occasion to examine the ' Journal 

 Typographique,' l I unexpectedly found the " Didot " edition 

 announced in course of publication by Plassan, in monthly livrai- 

 sons of two volumes each. Further inquiry brought to light the 

 fact that only a small portion of the work (9 livraisons) was 

 issued in 1799, and vol. XIV of the Quadrupedes (in livr. 35), 

 was not published until Oct., 1802 ! 2 Again, it appears that the 

 Didot/ s had no connection with the work before 1803, as the 

 following "avis" (Journ. Typ., Aug. 25, 1803, 358) will show : 



" MM. Pierre Didot l'aine\ et Firtnin Didot, viennent d' acqu£rir, 

 et de reunir a leur Collection stereotype, 1' edition, de format in— 

 18, de \" Histoire naturelle de Buffon, revue par son continuateur, 

 M. Lac£pede, membre de l'lnstitut national des sciences et des 

 arts ; ils stereotypent en ce moment-ci, et mettront tres-inces- 

 samment en ventre les 4 vol. qui terminent V Histoire naturelle des 

 poissotis, par M. Lac6p6de, et complettent en meme terns cette 

 Edition, dont les trente-cinq premieres livraisons ont et£ impri- 

 mt>es par M. Plassan. Nous imprimerons dans notre prochain 

 No., leur nouveau Prospectus, qui se distribue chez eux, avec leur 

 notice stereotype." 3 



Thus it would appear that the first 70 volumes constituted 

 Plassan's edition, and the last 6 Didot's. If Didot's imprint occurs 

 in the early volumes of the set quoted by Mr. Sherborn it would 

 indicate a reprint of Plassan's edition. Why the later volumes 

 should be dated 1799 I cannot surmise, unless it be that the set 

 of 70 volumes was intended for publication in that year, and the 

 plan to issue in monthly livraisons, an afterthought. Antedated 



1 A weekly journal, published in Paris from 1797 to 1810, devoted exclu- 

 sively to the announcement of new works, music, etc.; succeeded, in 181 1, 

 by the ' Journal General de l'lmprimerie et de la Librarie.' 



2 Engelmann's reference (Bibl. Hist. Nat., 1846, 322) to a tract containing 

 these tableaux "in- 18. Paris, 1802. Plassan," is additional evidence. 

 Engelmann gives the whole work as dating from 1799 to 1802. 



3 In the forty or more notices of this work in the 'Journal Typographique,' 

 between 1799 and 1802, there is no reference to the Didots. 



