BAILLY, naturalist, Hébert's brother-in-law. 3 draft letters - Lot 78

Lot 78
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BAILLY, naturalist, Hébert's brother-in-law. 3 draft letters - Lot 78
BAILLY, naturalist, Hébert's brother-in-law. 3 draft letters (to Hébert, to the director of Affiches de Meaux and, apparently, to Buffon) + 1 copy of a letter from Hébert addressed to him, 3 pp. in-folio and 3 pp. in-4. Coulommiers, April 22 - May 1, 1776. Long, interesting letters on the successful mating of a she-wolf and a dog, thus vindicating the hypotheses put forward by BUFFON, who had failed in his mating experiment. Hébert gives further details in his letter to Bailly: "Your observation, my dear Bailly, will give great pleasure to M. de Buffon; you have given him here one of the most beautiful and interesting facts that has been collected in natural history, and you have presented it to him with an evidence that does not allow him to doubt. It should even be added that this fact came to him at the right time. He was already well on the way out of his first prejudice, and I can in turn tell you an equally interesting fact that I got from him [...]. M. de Buffon passed through here 15 days ago and it is from him that I have the story I have detailed and which he intends to make public in a supplement volume [...]". A set of engravings is enclosed: portraits of Buffon and natural history (including wolves).
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