SOULAVIE (Jean-Louis). Histoire naturelle de la France méridionale. Nîmes, Belle ; Paris, Quillau, Mérigot, Belin, 1780-1784. 8 volumes in-8, the first 7 bound in marbled calf, spine decorated, red edges, and the 8th in tortoiseshell calf, triple fillet, smooth spine decorated, gilt edges (Period bindings). Very rare first edition of Abbé Soulavie's great work on the natural history of the South of France. It is divided into two parts, the first of which, in seven volumes, deals with the geology and mineralogy of Vivarais and Velay; the second, which remains unfinished, consists of a single volume devoted to plants. The work is illustrated with a frontispiece and 26 intaglio plates, most of which are fold-outs. In addition to the many observations he made on the soils of the Vivarais and neighbouring regions, Soulavie presented here an original mineralogical system, a precursor of transformism and stratigraphic palaeontology, which provoked lively debate among specialists of the time and was opposed by Buffon in particular. The fourth volume contains the Chronologie physique des éruptions des volcans éteints de la France méridionale. The eighth and last volume, containing the botanical part, comes from another copy; it has curiously fallen off 5 on the spine. Bindings restored, title-pieces renewed, initial frontispiece removed, scattered foxing and wetness. From the library of Paul de Wint, with bookplate. Attached is a second copy of the first volume, in a different issue with the sole address of Belle in Nîmes, contemporary paperback, untrimmed. It contains at the end of the volume the booklet by the same author Géographie de la nature ou distribution des trois règnes sur la surface de la Terre (Paris, 1780, 16 pp. and a folding map of Vivarais). DSB, XII, 549 - Quérard, IX, 222 - Pritzel, n°8784.