Instructions pour les Voyageurs et les Employés dans les Colonies, sur la Manière de Recueillir, de Conserver et D'Envoyer les Objets D'Histoire Naturelle

This is one of a growing collection of early instructions for collecting specimens of plants and animals. These publications reflect the recognition of the importance of proper preservation techniques and record-keeping for natural-history collections, as private collections evolved into public museums through the 19th century. In Paris the King's gardens and collections had been declared a national, public museum after the French Revolution in the 1790s, and although political upheavals continued to buffet it about for several decades, the scientists at the museum and the collectors in French colonies around the world persevered in building the research collections.