An illustrated guide to taxidermy and the preparation of natural history specimens, probably the first taxidermy manual published in French. The twenty-five folding engravings, the majority by amateur engraver and pastellist Marguerite le Comte (1717-1800) after drawings by Durand, include depictions of taxidermy preparations of birds, reptiles, small mammals and fish, together with illustrations of specimens of beetles, sea urchins, star fish, shells, sponges and coral. The final section is a reprint, with revisions, of Henri-Louis Duhamel du Monceau’s Avis ... (Paris, 1752?) concerning the transportation of tree and plant specimens by sea.  Digital facsimile from Biodiversity Heritage Library at this link.