Mulsant & Verreaux Hummingbirds

Mulsant & Verreaux 
from Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux-Mouches, ou Colibris constituant la famille des Trochilïdes
Published: Lyon, 1874
Lithograph with original hand coloring
Paper size: 12 1/4” x 8 3/4”

Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux-Mouches, ou Colibris constituant la famille des Trochilïdes (“The Natural History of Hummingbirds constituting the Trochilidae family”) was published in 1874 by prominent French naturalists Martial Étienne Mulsant (1797-1880) and Édouard Verreaux (1810–1868). This extremely rare monograph features 117 exceptional hand-colored lithographs of the known species of hummingbirds, members of the Trochilidae family. Histoire Naturelle was originally published in 64 plates in four volumes by L Bevealet & Mesplis in Lyon.


Martial Étienne Mulsant served as President of the Société linnéenne de Lyon after holding post as assistant librarian and professor. He published monumental research across the fields of entomology, ornithology, and botany. His 1846 and 1850 monographs on the insects of France formed the basis for much of modern ladybug taxonomy. The "hummingbird of Mulsant", Acestrura mulsanti (now Chaetocercus mulsant), was named in his honor by Jules Bourcierin 1842. Jean Baptiste Édouard Verreaux worked primarily as a taxidermist under Maison Verreaux, his family business, which funded collection expeditions around the world and was the premier provider of taxidermy specimens to the Museum of Natural History. In addition to Histoire Naturelle, Mulsant and Verreaux collaborated on Histoire naturelle des punaises de France, ("Natural History of the bugs of France") between 1865 and 1879.