Le Cabinet du jeune naturaliste, ou Tableaux intéressants de l’histoire des animaux … …

Paris : chez Maradan, libraire, rue des Grands Augustins, no. 9, 1810. Six volumes, octavo, uniform contemporary bindings of green straight-grain morocco, boards with double-gilt rule, spines with titles, volume numbers and animal vignettes in gilt; pastedowns all with the beautiful illustrated ex libris of Jean-Marie-Philippe Sauzey, avocat, pastedown of first volume also with ticket of original bookseller Ayné of Lyon; each volume with an engraved frontispiece, an engraved title leaf (with variant title ‘Le cabinet du naturaliste‘ and an illustration relating to the type of fauna covered in that volume), and a title without illustration; pp. viii, 366; viii, 326; viii, 295; viii, 335; viii, 359; viii, 364; illustrated with engraved plates in each volume; volume 6 partially uncut; occasional light foxing, otherwise clean and crisp throughout, an attractive set in handsome contemporary bindings.

First French edition of Rev. Thomas Smith’s The Naturalist’s Cabinet (London, 1806), a charming introduction to the animal kingdom intended for younger readers. The first volume is the only one with Australian content: it features descriptions of the kangaroo and the platypus, and the plates include a startling image of a man in a boxing contest with a kangaroo. Another plate depicts a lady and gentleman sitting down to drinks with an orangutan (an enigmatic pre-Darwinian reference).

The National Library of Australia holds a complete set of six volumes of this 1810 edition.