RÉAUMUR (René-Antoine Ferchault de). Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire des insectes. Paris, Imprimerie royale, 1734-1742. 6 volumes in-4, marbled calf, triple gilt fillet, spine decorated, red edges (period binding). First edition of this seminal work on entomological science, renowned for its accuracy. The illustrations include 267 plates out of text representing countless species of insects, 6 headbands and 6 initials, all engraved in intaglio by Jean-Baptiste Haussard, Philippe Simonneau, Claude Lucas and other artists. The first three volumes are devoted to caterpillars and butterflies, the fourth to gallinsects and flies, the fifth to flies, cicadas and bees, and finally the sixth to wasps, bumblebees and hornets. The work was never completed: Réaumur still had to deal with crickets and grasshoppers and the vast class of beetles. A fine copy, well bound in the period. It is said to have belonged to the Alsatian composer Jean-Baptiste Weckerlin (1821-1910), according to a note written in pencil on a flyleaf, and to have been in the Pierre Lambert library, with ex-libris (it was not in the 1982 sale). The last volume has curiously been titled on the spine: Histoire des incestes (sic). One spine cap trimmed. In French in the text, n°145 - Nissen, ZBI, n°3315.