Amateur ornithology at the end of the 18 century. A few th words about „Histoire des oiseaux” by François-Nicolas Martinet and its illustrations on the 230 th anniversary of its publication

The article presents one of the modern ornithological works published in the years 1787–1796, Histoire des oiseaux by François-Nicolas Martinet. The engraver produced a compendium constituting part of the history of French illustrated nature encyclopaedias which goes back to the mid-16th century. Consecutive depictions of animals were created in the circles of the Royal Academy of Sciences. Since the mid-17th century its members had compiled various compendia presenting mammals and birds living in the royal menageries. Since around 1765, François-Nicolas Martinet had been hired to create colourful ornithological illustrations for one of such encyclopaedias prepared by Georges Leclerc de Buffon. On the basis of the copperplate engravings made at that time, in 1787 Martinet began to publish his own depictions of birds with descriptions. Produced during the French Revolution, the collection was popular with readers due to its light yet scientific character, but also because of its convinient format. One of the buyers of Histoire des oiseaux was Aleksander Lubomirski whose grandson, Leon Rzewuski, donated six volumes of this compendium to the Cracow Scientific Society in 1865. The book collection of the Society laid the foundations for the collection of the Scientific Library of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Polish Academy of Sciences in Kraków.

The article presents one of the modern ornithological works published in the years 1787–1796, Histoire des oiseaux by François-Nicolas Martinet. The engraver produced a compendium constituting part of the history of French illustrated nature encyclopaedias which goes back to the mid-16th century. Consecutive depictions of animals were created in the circles of the Royal Academy of Sciences. Since the mid-17th century its members had compiled various compendia presenting mammals and birds living in the royal menageries. Since around 1765, François-Nicolas Martinet had been hired to create colourful ornithological illustrations for one of such encyclopaedias prepared by Georges Leclerc de Buffon. On the basis of the copperplate engravings made at that time, in 1787 Martinet began to publish his own depictions of birds with descriptions. Produced during the French Revolution, the collection was popular with readers due to its light yet scientific character, but also because of its convinient format. One of the buyers of Histoire des oiseaux was Aleksander Lubomirski whose grandson, Leon Rzewuski, donated six volumes of this compendium to the Cracow Scientific Society in 1865. The book collection of the Society laid the foundations for the collection of the Scientific Library of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Polish Academy of Sciences in Kraków.