Comte de Buffon: Histoire Naturelle, V.III. Drawing of a human baby. The Histoire Naturelle, générale et particulière, avec la description du Cabinet du Roi (Natural History, General and Particular, with a Description of the King's Cabinet) is an encyclopedic collection of 36 large (quarto) volumes written between 1749-1804 by the Comte de Buffon, and continued in eight more volumes after his death by his colleagues. Stock Photo