Levaillant had many claims to fame. If you are interested in his writings on birds, look at his books online, or at my article LV, or my section in the Jacana book or, if you are lucky enough to have it, at the Brenthurst publication with Peter Mundy’s notes on many of LV’s species.

1. He was the first and greatest African ornithologist.
2. His account of his travels was the most widely read and translated book about South Africa till Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom.
3. He was a brilliant namer of birds and more of his bird names – over 100 — survive in common and scientific use than those of any other ornithologist.
4. He was strongly influenced by enlightenment thinkers such as Rousseau and Diderot and his work was sharply critical of colonial violence and settler behaviour.
5. He was a major influence on museum displays in part because he was one of the first to use an arsenic-based soap that preserved specimens much better than previous sulphur based treatments. He sold the secret of this soap to the Paris Natural History Museum.
6. He was a sophisticated anthropological commentator and observer, able to re-examine his assumptions and prejudices.