First edition, one of 150 numbered copies on Hollande, the only deluxe issue copies after 5 on Japon.
A very fine copy, as issued, with an important manuscript document by Elme-Marie Caro, 1 page in ink on a double leaf, undated [1887 ?].
Maupassant's last novel Notre Coeur is also one of his most autobiographical. The writer was strongly influenced in this piece by famous literary and artistic "Salons" held by high society women, which he frequently attended. The novel confronts a man of letters with one of these strong-headed women of late 19th-century Paris. He describes the main character Michèle de Burne as "a woman of refinement, of indeterminate sensibility, restless, without fixed resolves, her feelings in constant turmoil, who seemed to have made it part of her experience to employ every narcotic that quiets the aching nerves: chloroform that stupefies, ether and morphine that excite to abnormal reverie, kill the senses, and deaden the emotions"
Maupassant sketches the fictional portrait of Countess Potocka, to whom he was one of the most fervent suitors, called "Macchabées" or "morts d'amour" , according to the rules of the literary game created in her famous Salon. He paints the picture of his unrequited love through this modern, liberated although oppressive woman, who only finds pleasure in the enslavement of her lover.
Our copy exceptionally contains a precious "Convocation extraordinaire du Club des Macchabées", an amusing original document written by philosopher Elme-Marie Caro.
Countess Potocka is referred to in the document as "the Patroness, Head of the Executive and Decorative Power of the Macchabees", and the list of her suitors "specially and ex officio summoned, without procrastination or apology" includes some of the Countess's Salon regulars: Clovis Bachelier, Adrien de Montebello, Olivier Taigny and Dubois were members of the administrative committee, painters Jean Béraud and Henri Gervex represented the art world, and writers Georges Legrand, Elme-Marie Caro and Gustave Schlumberger the literary world. The "President" of this society is none other than famous actor Coquelin aîné, member of the Comédie française.
Although he does not appear on this invitation, Maupassant played a major role in this infamous group as "Perpetual Secretary of the Permanent Council of the Club des Macchabées".
A precious document bearing witness to the fascinating Countess who inspired Maupassant, Marcel Proust for his Duchesse de Guermantes and Aimé Guerlain who created for her his Shore's Caprice perfume.
Second edition, after the first published in 1779, expanded by Rouland, and illustrated with 8 folding plates at the end, compared to 5 for the first edition.
Contemporary full marbled calf binding. Ornate spine with raised bands. Red morocco title label. Two corners bumped. Rubbing. One loss at head. Light foxing on the first leaves. Good copy.
Awakened to experimental physics as a student of Abbé Nollet, Sigaud de la Fond assisted the chemist Macquer in his experiments on gases and notably hydrogen, verifying that its combustion produced water. He relates in this work his experiments on different types of air, and summarizes the work of foreign physicists. Rouland, professor of experimental physics at the University of Paris, completed the descriptions of experiments, and the apparatus for conducting these experiments. Most of the chemists and physicists of the period are cited in the work: Priestley, Fontana, Lavoisier...
Bookplate J. Angeras. Non solum... 1902.
Second edition statement, rare, published after the original of 1783, and illustrated with 9 plates in fine, of the aerostatic machine and the flying boat.
Bound in full limp vellum binding, reused. Smooth spine with author's name in pen and date at foot. Stains and soiling. Trace of dampstain to lower margin of frontispiece. Leaves browned at beginning of work, and several others scattered throughout bearing browning.
First and important work on aerostation. It brings together several memoirs relating the first balloon flights (On inflammable gas, Observations made by M. Jeaurat, On rubber, Accounts of the first flights at Annonay, at the Champ de Mars...) Faujas de Saint-Fond, naturalist and geologist, financially supported the research of the Montgolfier brothers, papermakers, based on Cavendish's experiments and Priestley's work on hot air. They flew two balloons at Annonay, the second with farm animals, by means of bags filled with hot air. A supplement containing other memoirs and observations, which is rarely bound with, was published in 1784.
