author
comte de Georges Louis Leclerc Buffon
1707–1788
A leading voice of the French Enlightenment, this celebrated naturalist helped turn the study of nature into a grand literary and scientific project. Best known for the vast Histoire naturelle, he wrote with unusual sweep about animals, the earth, and humanity’s place in the natural world.
10 Audiobooks
Buffon's Natural History, Volume 01 (of 10) Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Mineral, &c. &c
by comte de Georges Louis Leclerc Buffon
Buffon's Natural History. Volume 05 (of 10) Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &c
by comte de Georges Louis Leclerc Buffon
Buffon's Natural History. Volume 10 (of 10) Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &c
by comte de Georges Louis Leclerc Buffon
Buffon's Natural History, Volume 03 (of 10) Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &c.
by comte de Georges Louis Leclerc Buffon
Buffon's Natural History, Volume 02 (of 10) Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Mineral, &c. &c
by comte de Georges Louis Leclerc Buffon
Buffon's Natural History. Volume 07 (of 10) Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &c
by comte de Georges Louis Leclerc Buffon
Buffon's Natural History. Volume 08 (of 10) Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &c
by comte de Georges Louis Leclerc Buffon
Buffon's Natural History. Volume 09 (of 10) Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &c
by comte de Georges Louis Leclerc Buffon
Buffon's Natural History. Volume 06 (of 10) Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &c
by comte de Georges Louis Leclerc Buffon
Buffon's Natural History. Volume 04 (of 10) Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &c
by comte de Georges Louis Leclerc Buffon
About the author
Born in Montbard, France, in 1707, Buffon became one of the eighteenth century’s best-known men of science. He served for decades as intendant of the Jardin du Roi in Paris, where he expanded the royal garden and its collections into a major center for natural history.
His fame rests above all on Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière, a huge multi-volume work begun in 1749. In it, he combined close observation with a lively, elegant style that reached far beyond specialist readers. His writings shaped how many people thought about animals, geology, and the age of the earth, and they influenced later naturalists even when they disagreed with him.
Buffon was also admired as a stylist and public intellectual, not just as a scientist. Made a count in 1773, he remained an important cultural figure in France until his death in 1788, and his name is still closely tied to the early history of natural science.