From Natural History to the History of Nature

"[This] volume of selected translations from Buffon and his commentators focuses on Buffon as a central figure in the French Enlightenment. . . . [T]he readings are unified and enlivened by the common theme reflected in the title and highlighted in the long scholarly introduction. . . . [T]he texts trace Buffon's early work through the publication of the first three volumes of the History naturelle in 1749 and record that work's immediate reception." —Isis

“This scholarly and conscientious book makes an important . . . contribution to the study and interpretation of Buffon, and so, too, to the Enlightenment generally. What John Lyon and Phillip Sloan have done is present English texts under four headings, so that we have, successively, a selection from Buffon’s writings prior to the first (1749) volumes of his Histoire naturelle; pieces from these first volumes of 1749; immediate responses by the earliest critics, writing about the 1749 texts; and finally Hérault de Séchelles’ essay on Buffon, Voyage à Montbard. Much of the material is in translations made by Lyon and Sloan themselves, and in many cases the texts are ones not previously translated into English. Moreover, at every turn Lyon and Sloan have provided highly informative notes and commentary. In a substantial and original introduction, they have discussed the nature of Buffon’s natural history especially from an epistemological point of view. . . . The translations by Lyon and Sloan quite rightly put accuracy before stylistic appeal. . . . Altogether, then, the book is a very welcome addition to the Buffon literature.” —Medical History

"The volume is limited, reasonably enough, to the early Buffon and to the critical writings he provoked. And the main aim is to place the early Buffon in his context. But, of course, any future efforts to reinterpret Buffon's career and his Histoire as a whole will be aided by this view of the man and his magnum opus." —M. J. S. Hodge, Division of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Leeds