Who had the crazy idea of coining ecology?
Idyllic or hostile nature, romantic ideal or scientific mystery, protective and protected, abundant and deserted, overwhelming and overwhelmed... Hunters or gatherers, alert scientists and amazed innocents, let's cultivate our extraordinary garden together.
New edition, issued a few months after the first edition.
Copy complete with its wraparound band : """Prix Goncourt 1970 à l'unanimité"
Autograph inscription signed by Michel Tournier to Monsieur Deslignières.
First edition, taken from the Mémoires de la Société royale et centrale d'agriculture, for the year 1824.
Illustrated with a folding plate inserted out of text.
Our copy is preserved in its original state, sewn and issued in a plain blue provisional wrapper.
Scattered light foxing.
A grandson of the founder and first director of the Académie royale de marine, Pierre-Marie-Sébastien Bigot de Morogues (1776-1840) devoted himself principally to agricultural matters.
Exceptional collection of 49 original watercolours depicting daily life in Tonkin, most illustrating rural scenes.
These unsigned watercolours, each measuring approximately 20 x 15 cm (excluding margins), are finely executed in Indian ink and watercolour, with touches of gouache, on paper sheets—some bearing the watermark "Latune et Cie Blacons."
Contemporary half red cloth binding, smooth spine covered in red shagreen, some rubbing to the spine, boards of marbled paper, blue endpapers and pastedowns.
Minor foxing to the margins of some watercolours.
The scenes depict a variety of subjects: a military post guarded by four soldiers, one standing sentry at the entrance; a guard in white uniform holding a rifle with a long bayonet, his head covered by a salacco (the traditional headgear of Indochinese riflemen); an elderly man seated at a table, smoking a pipe while being fanned by a servant; a peasant ploughing with two oxen; a woman praying at a grave; another peasant tilling the soil; two villagers meeting near a small bridge; four people working in a paddy field; a man in formal dress before a temple; three peasants harvesting rice; a cockfight, and more.
Also depicted are villagers carrying goods or fishing, wrestlers performing before a dignitary, a child guiding a blind man, two labourers transporting stones in a wheelbarrow, a procession led by a mounted dignitary carrying a wild boar in a cage, a prisoner being flogged, another about to be beheaded, a hunting scene, musicians, a woman at a loom, villagers at play, and so on.
Western presence is alluded to only once: an Indochinese sailing vessel flies three tri-colour flags while a steamship, probably French, makes its way in the background…
Accompanied by a piece of light brown calfskin (4 x 32 cm) blind-stamped with the inscription "Souvenir du Tonkin 1885-90".
A rare and precious visual record of Tonkin at the beginning of the French protectorate.
Very rare first edition illustrated with 14 plates, three of which are in colour, issued as a supplement to the "Guide pratique de la fabrication de la bière" and the "Guide raisonné de la fabrication de la bière" published in 1867 and 1868.
Not in Vicaire or Bitting. Oberlé, Fastes, 1125, does not record this supplement.
Spine restored with minor losses, small marginal defects to the boards, and a stain along the right margin of the upper cover.
The author was a hop dealer and purveyor of brewery equipment in Strasbourg and in Gray (Haute-Saône).
This volume reflects the advances achieved by the brewing industry, particularly in northern France and in Belgium.
"Ce livre alsacien est un des meilleurs traités sur la fabrication de la bière"(Oberlé).
The plates depict the malt kiln of the Arlen brewery, the Carpentier germ-removing machine, the boilers of the Brasserie de l'Eléphant in Strasbourg, a mixer, a vat with its wave-breaker, the cooling trough of the Brasserie du Pêcheur, and more.
Rare.
First edition and the inaugural volumes of this significant scientific periodical, whose publication continued until 1954.
Volumes 43, 4, 5, and 6 are illustrated with respectively 332 in-text figures, 392 figures, 138 in-text figures, and 179 in-text figures.
Contemporary half-sheep bindings in brown, smooth spines decorated with gilt fillets and garlands, spines rubbed, red lettering and volume labels with a few minor losses on some volumes, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, sprinkled edges, some volumes slightly rubbed at the extremities, the upper corner of the fourth volume lacking, a few snags to the board edges; period bindings.
The first three years include Claude Bernard’s experimental pathology lectures—on toxic and medicinal substances, bodily fluids, the nervous system, and related subjects—as well as contributions by Louis Pasteur, Étienne-Jules Marey, Gustave Flourens, Alfred Vulpian, Marcellin Berthelot, Virchow, and others.
First edition (cf. Not in Quérard or Musset-Pathay. Oberlé 101-02.).
Including, with the appended pieces (cf. infra), the account of the thirteen experiments conducted by Maupin between 1772 and 1777 on the handling of wines.
Bound at the end:
Bradel-style binding in half bottle-green long-grain morocco, smooth spine tooled with gilt fillets, date gilt at foot, cat's-eye patterned paper boards, bookplate mounted at the head of one pastedown; modern binding.
Spine and lower cover marginally faded and sunning, light upper-marginal dampstaining.
First edition from the Imprimerie Royale, complete in nine quarto volumes with all 262 black-and-white engraved plates.
Contemporary full mottled calf, spines with raised bands decorated with guilloche tooling and gilt ornaments in the compartments, red morocco lettering-pieces and numbering-pieces, triple gilt fillet border on boards, double gilt fillet on board edges, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, marbled edges. Minor variations in the tooling on volume 3.
In this set, some headcaps missing, 6 cm joints split at foot of volume 1, 6.5 cm and 6 cm at foot of volume 2, 3.5 cm at head of volume 3, corners bumped, scratches and minor restoration to boards, including a more significant repair on volume 7 measuring 11 cm, browning in left margin of lower board of volume 4.
In this copy: some worming, several instances of dampstaining throughout the set, more pronounced in volumes 1, 3, and 8, some tears, restored on the title page and on pp. ix and xxiii of volume 1, also restored on p. 496 of volume 2, on pp. 259 and 260 of volume 3, on pp. 481 and 482 of volume 4, and on pp. 173 to 176 of volume 5.
Copy with some marginal annotations: in volume 2, a manuscript footnote added in ink on p. 541 ("Voyez les Planches enluminures n°491"), erroneous manuscript dates in ink in volumes 2 and 8, the number "18" annotated in ink in the upper right corner of the rear endpaper of volume 9.
Copy richly illustrated with drawings by Jacques de Sève, engraved by Robert de Launay, Lucas, Michel, Madeleine-Thérèse Rousselet, C. Baron, Hubert, Catherine Haussard, Carl Gottlieb Guttenberg, Jean-Guillaume Blanchon, Menil, Dufour, Louis Claude Legrand, Claude Mathieu Fessard, Elisabeth Haussard, François Hubert, A.-B. Duhamel, Mlle Mansard, C. Baquoy, Heinrich Guttenberg, Laurent Guyot, Benazeth, Schmitz, Marie-Anne Rousselet (M. R. veuve Tardieu), Louis-Gabriel Monnier, Pierre-Étienne Moitte, Jean-Louis de Lignon, Levillain, N. du Four, Thomas Chambars, Nicolas Thomas, Luigi Valperga, and George Louis Biosse.
Accompanied by two additional plates, heightened in color, numbered XX and XXII, from a volume 7 of the Histoire naturelle des oiseaux.
First edition of this pamphlet devoted to the largest marshland in Italy, the Fucecchio wetlands.
Illustrated with a double-page engraved plate.
Disbound copy.
From the library of the economist, agronomist, industrialist, and lithographer Charles-Philibert de Lasteyrie du Saillant (1759–1849), with his ownership stamp on the title-page.
First edition, illustrated with seven folding plates.
Preserved in its original state, sewn and issued in plain blue paper wrappers with an added inner lining.
This volume gathers eight short papers previously published in the annual reports of the Kew Observatory.
Francis Ronalds (1788–1873), a largely self-taught engineer, became in 1843 the director and superintendent of the Kew meteorological observatory.
His work included, among other tasks, the development of a system for recording meteorological data.
On the front flyleaf, autograph presentation from Francis Ronalds to a member of the Becquerel family, most likely Antoine-César (1788–1878) rather than his son.
First edition of this concise treatise on rural economy, attributed to the Duke of Sully, the famed minister of Henri IV, born at Rosny and who bore the name of that estate.
His well-known commitment to the development of agriculture has passed into national lore. However, it cannot be excluded that another author, sharing the same territorial designation, may be responsible for the text.
Contemporary full mottled fawn sheep, spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt compartments and gilt tools, gilt fillets, Havana morocco lettering-piece, gilt rolls to the headcaps, gilt fillets to board edges, red sprinkled edges.
Some repairs to the binding. Manuscript ex-libris inscriptions “Cousturier, Prieur de Champsanglard [Creuse]” and “Denesmond, prêtre” on the title-page of the first volume.
The booklet is followed, as very often with this title, by two short agronomic treatises, which vary from one copy to another.
In this copy:
New edition, illustrated with 111 drawings by Neuville and Riou. 7 plates some of which in color.
Publisher's gilt Globe binding, upper plate signed Blancheland, Engel relieur, spine with lighthouse, second plate of Engel H type, publisher's catalogue Y at end of volume.
Fine copy despite the last endpaper hinge partly split.
Undoubtedly the most famous of Jules Verne's novels, featuring the mythical figure of Captain Nemo and his legendary submarine, the Nautilus.
First issue of the fifty large hors-texte lithographs drawn from life by Henry John Terry (cf. Vicaire, VII, 1164).
Publisher’s binding in full red cloth, smooth spine decorated with blind-ruled compartments and fillets, light rubbing to the head- and tailcaps, gilt-lettered title on the front board, yellow endpapers, trace of a removed bookplate on one pastedown, one lower corner softened, slight discoloration to the lower left corner of the rear board, occasional marginal foxing, a small loss to the foot of page 119, and minor wormholes at the foot of the last three leaves, not affecting the text.
The fifty striking black lithographs depict the most picturesque views of Haute-Savoie.
Henry John Terry, originally from England, studied in Geneva under Alexandre Calame, the foremost Swiss landscape painter of the nineteenth century, and later settled in the country.
A well-preserved copy in the publisher’s original cloth.
First edition of this paper on cassava and the cultivation of peanuts, read before the General Assembly of the Royal Aragonese Society on 22 August 1800.
Our copy is preserved in modern plain beige wrappers, with a few insignificant spots of foxing.
From the library of the comte de Lasteyrie du Saillant, the renowned agronomist, with his red printed stamp on the title-page.
Autograph letter signed by Georges de Peyrebrune to Jane Catulle-Mendès, 3 pages in violet ink on a double sheet, usual postal folds.
Rare and likely unpublished letter from the feminist novelist Georges de Peyrebrune addressed to her fellow writer, the poetess Jane Catulle Mendès. Peyrebrune, who struggled to make a living from her pen, had failed to publish one of her tales. Consoled by her correspondent, she wishes to offer her a bouquet of lilacs - symbols of seduction, nostalgia and femininity.
First edition of the inaugural instalment printed in Pondicherry at the Rattinamodeliar Press.
Losses to the spine and, more lightly, to the board corners; internally a clean and appealing copy.
Recorded in the CCF with copies only at the BnF (the sole institution holding a complete set), the Collège de France, and Sainte-Geneviève.
The first of five parts of this exceedingly scarce botanical publication, devoted entirely to Lawsonia alba [or inermis = henna].
Very rare first edition, illustrated in each volume with a copper-engraved frontispiece by Tardieu after Monnet.
Half black grained cloth bindings, smooth spines decorated with blind fillets, marbled paper boards with light rubbing, sprinkled edges, modest late 19th-century bindings.
Some foxing and a few pale waterstains at the end of the second volume.
This work is an essay whose concerns are strikingly close to our own, though expressed in a very different context.
A founder of French ecological thought, the civil engineer François-Antoine Rauch (1762–1837) demonstrated the direct relationship between deforestation and the increase in extreme weather, calling for the preservation of nature in the interest of humankind. He denounced the large-scale clearing of forests undertaken across continents and advocated the restoration and protection of woodland areas.
In the same spirit, he defended wetlands and marshes, to be made healthy without being drained. The first volume is almost entirely devoted to the dangers and imbalances caused by deforestation; the second focuses on the regeneration of rivers and streams, as well as the drainage of marshes, the whole promoting a return to the “primordial harmony.”
First trade edition, one of only 50 numbered copies printed on alfa paper, the only deluxe issue.
Rare and very attractive copy in original condition.
First edition illustrated with two etched plates under tissue guards.
Claude Bernard’s (1813–1878) laboratory notes on alcoholic fermentation (see pp. 3–33) record his experiments on the search for yeast germs on grape clusters, the formation of alcohol in grape juice without ferment, on sound and rotten grapes, on the search for a soluble alcoholic ferment and the influence of decay, and on the production of alcohol. All these experiments were conducted on his estate at Saint-Julien in October 1877, during the grape harvest.
This conception of a soluble ferment as the origin of yeast, a living organism, marked the starting point of the famous controversy between Pasteur and Berthelot.
Rare and appealing copy, largely uncut.
Fourth edition, partly original, revised and considerably enlarged from these lectures given at the Paris School of Pharmacy. The work is illustrated with 600 figures within the text.
Slight losses or small corner tears to the spines and boards, minor scattered foxing.
A pleasant copy.
First edition, illustrated with four plates, including a folding world map (cf. Sinkankas 3466; Agassiz III, 370).
Full fawn calf, spine with five slender raised bands, gilt-tooled compartments with occasionally softened floral tools, rubbed gilt headcaps, brown morocco lettering-piece, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt dentelle framing the pastedowns, gilt fillets to board edges, marbled edges, contemporary binding.
Repairs to the spine, one joint split at head and foot, browning along the board margins with surface scratches, scattered foxing, a waterstain at the head of all leaves.
A noteworthy treatise devoted to yellow amber and above all to ambergris, the fragrant substance derived from the intestinal concretions of sperm whales which, once expelled, float on the surface of the sea and yield a highly prized perfume.
The plates depict a frog and a lizard embedded in amber, a world map (Africa, Europe, Asia and part of the Southern Lands), figures collecting bird droppings, and various animals.
"This book commonly appears in bibliographies on amber when in fact it is about ambergris, but Klobius examines both substances and notes their differences on p. 26-9. One of the plates shows a frog and a lizard imbedded in amber, both of which are fakes" [Sinkankas].
On the title-page, a distinguished manuscript ex-libris in black ink
First edition of this important work on cryptogams, illustrated with 36 hand-coloured plates (cf. Pritzel 3345).
Contemporary half calf with vellum corners, flat spine decorated with gilt floral rolls, partly rubbed, joints worn, lower cap trimmed with a small loss, black morocco title label, blue paper-covered boards.
Endpapers soiled, a few small spots of foxing.
Justin Girod-Chantrans, writer and naturalist [Besançon, 1750–1841], was one of the founders of the Société d’Agriculture du Doubs.
He was elected a member of the legislative body in 1802 (cf. Hoefer).
Second edition.
Full forest-green morocco binding, spine with five raised bands framed with gilt dotted lines and decorated with double gilt panels, gilt rolls at head and tail, triple gilt fillets bordering the covers, marbled paper endpapers and doublures, gilt dentelle frame on the inside covers, all edges gilt, double gilt fillets along the edges, an elegant binding signed by Krafft.
Bound following it are:
- Nicolas Papin’s “De pulvere sympathico dissertatio”, printed in Paris by Siméon Piget in 1650 (8 unnumbered leaves, the last blank, and 40 pp.).
- By the same author, “La poudre de sympathie, deffendue contre les objections de Mr. Cattier, médecin du Roy”, printed in Paris by Siméon Piget in 1651 (4 unnumbered leaves and 56 pp.).
- Isaac Cattier’s “Response à Monsieur Papin Docteur en Medecine, touchant la poudre de sympathie”, printed in Paris by Edme Martin in 1651 (87 pp.).
A fine copy, beautifully preserved in a splendid binding signed by Krafft.
First bilingual edition, one of 50 numbered copies on Arches wove paper, the deluxe issue.
The French translation, printed opposite the English text, was prepared by Patrick Guyon and Marie-Claude White.
A rare and attractive copy.
First edition of this first part illustrated with three copperplate engravings.
Contemporary flexible boards covered with marbled paper, smooth brown percaline spine with a small snag at foot, red morocco title label on the front cover, rubbed corners.
Rare.
Rare first edition of three scientific reports from the zoological exploration mission of Guy-René Babault (1883-1963), corresponding member of the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle, carried out in present-day Kenya and Uganda in 1913.
The set comprises: Volume 1: Insectes coléoptères. Cicindelidae, by Guy Babault. – Volume 2: Insectes coléoptères. Fam. Carabidae. Subf. Anthiinae, by G. Bénard. – Volume 3: Étude d'une collection d'oiseaux de l'Afrique orientale anglaise et de l'Ouganda, by A. Menegaux, with field notes by Guy Babault.
The first volume includes illustrations in the text and one hand-colored entomological plate with tissue guard and facing leaf of legends; the second volume contains one hand-colored entomological plate with tissue guard and facing legends; the third and final volume features six hand-colored ornithological plates with tissue guards, together with a large folding colored map bound at the end.
Spine and boards marginally faded or sunned, internally well preserved.
First edition, one of 42 numbered copies on Japan Barjon paper, one of the deluxe issue, with 8 additional copies on Japan reserved for the author.
Introduction by Francis Scarfe and preface by Jean-Jacques Mayoux.
Rare and attractive copy of Kenneth White’s first book, complete with two photographs by Marie-Claude White.
First edition, one of 15 numbered copies on Hollande Van Gelder paper and signed with the publisher's initials.
Full green morocco, the spine in five compartments, the first cover inlayed with a large and superb plate by Marguerite Lecreux of a horn sculpted in Cameo, featuring a sailboat with its sails unfurled, on the calm sea appears an engraved silverfish set under the plate of the horn and visible in transparency, pastedown in silk decorated with a submarine pattern (coral, jellyfish, starfishes and algae) framed in morocco embellished with quintuple gilt fillets, endpages of iridescence cloth, the following pages in marbled paper, the headband highlighted with a double gilt fillets, gilt roulette on the spine head, all edges gilt, typical Art Deco binding (circa 1910-1920) by Noulhac together with Marguerite Lecreux.
First edition, one of 10 numbered copies on Holland paper, deluxe issue.
Some minor foxing mostly at the beginning and end of the volume.
Inscribed and signed by Maurice Genevoix to Jacques Gommy: "... en pensant aux forêts qu'il aime, avec les hommages et les amitiés de Maurice Genevoix."
First edition.
Elegant half navy blue morocco over marbled paper boards by Pierre-Lucien Martin, spine in six compartments with gilt fillets to bands and geometric decoration of red morocco onlays, date gilt at foot of spine, gilt fillet to boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt dentelle frame to pastedowns, covers and spine preserved, top edge gilt.
A very good copy in a handsome binding.
Exceptional autograph inscription from Claude Farrère : "A Pierre Louÿs son très petit disciple [To Pierre Louÿs, his very humble disciple]", along with Chinese ideograms.
A substantially cropped print bearing the same penciled number on the back of our photograph (11214), is in the Reutlinger archives at the Bibliothèque nationale de France (Album Reutlinger de portraits divers vol. 53, p.3). We have been unable to find any other examples of this photograph in other public collections. A similar photograph belatedly dedicated to Maurice Chevalier went on sale in 2008.
A beautiful, sultry shot of Colette probably taken the year of her banned dance show "Rêve d'Egypte" at the Moulin Rouge where she shared the bill – and a scandalous kiss – with her cross-dressing aristocrat lover Missy.
"Colette was a nude dancer, which at the time meant that she [...] draped herself in vaporous veils, concealing part of her anatomy under animal skins" (Paula Dumont). Colette had already used animal skins, hugging her figure in this picture, as a sensual costume in Charles Van Lerberghe's Pan, accompanied on stage by Lugné-Poe and Georges Wague. This was the first time anyone had dared to go without a flesh-colored body suit. Justifying her choice, she went on to say: "I want to dance naked if the body suit bothers me and humiliates my plasticity".
At the time of this photograph, in 1907, Colette was performing in countless shows, following her debut two years earlier in Nathalie Clifford Barney's Sapphic Salon where Mata Hari also danced. For Colette, dance was synonymous with emancipation in more ways than one - as a means of sustenance and liberation of her body which finally belonged to her after her separation from her abusive husband Willy in 1906. Her undulating, almost gestureless dance was linked by contemporary critics to that of Loïe Fuller and Isadora Duncan; her greatest success remained "La Chair", a risqué mime show she performed two hundred times in Paris and was subsequently produced with a new cast in New York's Manhattan Opera House. It was also in the halls of Parisian dance venues that Colette flaunted herself freely on the arm of her lovers. Her scandalous union with Missy, the virile Marquise de Morny who accompanied her on stage in male costumes, contributed to the fame of her performances.
This is probably the rarest photograph of Colette taken by Reutlinger who also photographed her draped in Grecian style or wearing her costume from "Le Rêve d'Egypte".
A rare visual testimony to a revolution in dance costume brought about by Colette, a key figure in twentieth-century artistic and literary Paris.
First edition, no grands papiers (deluxe) copies printed.
Half brown sheepskin, spine with four raised bands framed in blind and decorated with gilt floral motifs, some rubbing to the spine, marbled paper boards, marbled paper endpapers and flyleaves, modest contemporary binding.
Rare signed and inscribed copy by Guy de Maupassant to the Baron de Vaux who inspired the character of Bel-Ami: “To Baron de Vaux / his friend / Guy de Maupassant”.
Rare first edition of this essential supplement to the Flore forestière (1881–1897) by Jean-Baptiste-Louis Pierre (1833–1905), director of the Saigon Botanical Garden.
OCLC locates copies only at the BnF and the Natural History Museum.
Publisher's binding in brown cloth-backed boards, plain flat spine, paper-covered boards slightly sunned and soiled, title printed on upper board, bumped corners, minor wear to edges.
Text in two columns.
Clean and fresh interior.
New edition of the Fables, more complete than previous ones, illustrated with a hand-coloured vignette on the title page and 110 hand-coloured half-page illustrations in the text, for a total of 111 engraved and coloured plates (cf. Rochambeau 305. Després, p. 142, no. 63).
Full olive calf binding, spine with gilt fillets, numerously tooled in gilt, gilt tooling to spine-ends, boards framed in gilt, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, inner gilt dentelle on pastedowns, all edges gilt, 20th-century binding.
Spine and covers faded, some foxing, a snag at head of rear cover. Lower right corners of pp. ix-xi restored.
An exceptional and finely watercoloured copy of this abundantly illustrated edition of the "Fables." The famous illustrations by Jean-Baptiste Oudry were recut and modified for this publication and are accompanied by explanatory notes intended for young readers.
The title vignette was also created from a fragment of the frontispiece of the first edition illustrated by Oudry.
Rare first edition of this highly practical manual intended for sanitary inspection, each of the 90 plates featuring detailed explanatory text alongside corresponding illustrations.
The foreword is missing from our copy.
Publisher's binding in grey cloth-backed boards, plain spine showing some rubbing, illustrated upper cover, light dampstain to lower right corner of the upper board, minor rubbing to the lower cover.
Eugène Aureggio (1844–1924), a military veterinarian trained at Alfort, was then in charge of inspecting butcher’s meat.
First edition, one of 125 numbered deluxe copies, the only copies printed on deluxe paper.
Handsome copy, preserved as issued, loose in gatherings and housed in a double chemise and full cream cloth slipcase.
First edition, published by order of the Imperial Government of Brazil and illustrated with a folding color map at the end of the volume (cf. Garraux 169. Borba de Moraes I, 478).
Some light foxing, minor rubbing to the spine, a pleasing and scarce copy.
Contemporary binding in red half morocco-grained shagreen, smooth spine ruled in gilt with quadruple fillets, gilt coat of arms at foot of spine, small losses to head and tailcaps, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, period binding.
Emmanuel Liais, then Director of the Imperial Observatory of Rio de Janeiro, had been entrusted by Emperor Pedro II with various expeditions throughout the Brazilian territory.
First edition, one of 330 numbered copies on alfa paper.
Pleasant copy.
First edition, with no copies printed on deluxe paper.
A pleasing copy.
Signed autograph inscription from Yves Coppens to Emile Noël.
Rare first edition of the French translation by Judith Gautier, printed on japon-style paper.
Slight restoration work to spine and a corner of the lower cover, wrappers slightly and marginally soiled as usual.
Illustrated throughout with full-page colour woodcuts by Yamamoto.
First edition, one of 170 numbered copies on pure rag paper.
Shadowed endpapers; a small loss at the head of the upper board of the original front cover.
A pleasant copy, preserved in its double wrapper.
Rare first edition, illustrated with four plates at the end of the volume (cf. Polak 8728).
This practical treatise was reissued repeatedly until the end of the Ancien Régime.
Our copy is offered in its original state, stitched in the temporary blue paper wrappers.
A waterstain in the right margin of the first fifty leaves, with another affecting the lower margins of the subsequent leaves; title page detached.
Gilles-François Segondat (1724–1791), deputy commissioner of the navy, was to conclude his career as an ordinary commissioner of the ports.
Rare first edition (cf. Pritzel 7288).
Only three copies recorded in the CCF (BnF, Amiens and Montpellier).
Bound in a modern bradel binding of full blue paper-covered boards, smooth spine without lettering, printed paper title label pasted at the centre of the upper cover, a small dampstain at the foot of the spine.
The author, an apothecary in Montpellier, later qualified as a doctor of medicine.
First edition of the French translation of this account, originally published under the title: "An Account of the Island of Ceylon" in London in 1803 (cf. Boucher de La Richarderie, V, 135. Brunet, IV, 490 and Quérard, VII, 43 mention an edition published by Dentu, 1804).
Contemporary full mottled calf bindings, smooth spines decorated with gilt compartments and gilt tools, red morocco lettering pieces, green calf volume labels, gilt rolls at the head and tail partly worn, fragile joints, marbled paper endpapers and pastedowns, bookplates pasted to the pastedowns, gilt fillets on the board edges, speckled edges.
Bindings rubbed, small losses at the foot of the joints, a few light foxing spots.
Our copy is complete with its four folding maps and plans issued out of text: map of the island of Ceylon, plan of the port of Trinquemale, map of the pearl fisheries, and plan of the port of Colombo.
An English officer, Robert Percival (1765–1826) took part in the capture of the Cape of Good Hope in 1796, then occupied by the Dutch.
The following year he was sent to Ceylon with the British troops, where he remained for more than three years, allowing him to visit nearly all the coasts as well as the interior of the island. He was also a member of an embassy sent to the island’s native sovereign.
His account offers a comprehensive panorama of the island of Ceylon at the end of the eighteenth century: history, geography, natural resources, agriculture, trade, civil and military institutions, customs and manners of the Dutch, Portuguese, Malays and Sinhalese, fauna and flora, etc.
Provenance: from the library of the Château de Menneval, with bookplates pasted to the pastedowns.
Very rare first edition printed in a small number of copies of this offprint from the Fourth International Congress of Hygiene and Demography, session of 5 September 1882.
Spine and boards slightly faded and yellowed at the margins; interior in pleasing condition.
In this communication, Louis Pasteur examines all the new studies carried out in collaboration with Chamberland, Roux and Thuillier since the publication of the 1880 memoir.
Its principal purpose is to provide examples of the attenuation of viruses under the influence of atmospheric oxygen. He also summarizes the criticisms that had appeared in the collected works of the German Sanitary Office.
Extremely rare first edition, illustrated with two plates and issued as a separate offprint from the Phytographia Canariensis of the Histoire naturelle des Îles Canaries by Barker-Webb and Sabin Berthelot.
The plates, lithographed by J. Rigaud et Cie, were drawn by Alfred Riocreux, the gifted botanical artist and pupil of Redouté, responsible, among other works, for Choix de plantes de la Nouvelle-Zélande (1846).
Some foxing.
Contemporary binding in red half-morocco with corners, smooth spine ruled in gilt at head and foot, long-grained title, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns.
Not recorded by Nissen.
The Vicomte de Noé, a botanist about whom little is known, was one of the founding members of the Société botanique de France, established in 1854.
First edition, illustrated with 19 folding plates at the end of the volume.
Contemporary half green calf, smooth spine darkened with age, decorated with gilt garlands and fillets, with small blind-stamped fleurons; sides framed with triple blind fillets; marbled paper boards; marbled endpapers and pastedowns; speckled edges.
André Menet-Aeschimann (1813–1898) was head gardener of the garden of the Société d’horticulture de Mulhouse.
Bound after Daniel BOUSCASSE: "Prompte formation des arbres fruitiers" (S.l.n.d. [La Rochelle, Siret, 1859], 36 pp.).
This additional work is illustrated, at the end of the volume, with 2 folding plates.
The title page alone is lacking; only two copies recorded in the CCF (BnF, Rennes). Bound by Abry, in Colmar.
Manuscript ex-libris Ostermeier on the front endpaper of the first volume.
First edition of this rare offprint from the "Revue médicale et journal de clinique"
A single copy recorded in the CCFr (BnF).
Bradel binding in full boards covered with dark blue marbled paper, red shagreen spine label, pasted ex-libris on the inside board; modern binding signed Lobstein-Laurenchet.
Jean-Louis Lassaigne (1800–1859) taught chemistry at the Veterinary School of Alfort until 1854 and devoted particular attention to the medical applications of chemistry.
Bound at the end, by the same author: "Mémoire sur la possibilité de reconnaître, par les moyens chimiques, la présence de l'acétate de morphine chez les animaux empoisonnés par cette substance vénéneuse" N.p., n.d. [Paris, 1824], 12 pp.
Some foxing.
At the head of the first fascicule, an autograph inscription signed by Jean-Louis Lassaigne to the members of the Société de pharmacie de Paris.
Second edition, illustrated with a large folding plate bringing together five figures (referred to as “plates”).
Our copy is preserved in its original stitched wrappers, in the blank provisional waiting cover, with manuscript annotations in ink on the upper cover.
Two faint waterstains, one at the foot of the first page and the other at the head of the last.
The author, formerly florist-gardener on the Brunoy estates of Monsieur (Louis XVIII), was at the time a nurseryman at Mandres [les-Roses].
First edition, printed in a small number of copies, of this offprint from the Mémoires de la Société naturelle des sciences naturelles de Cherbourg, vol. XX (1876).
See O'Reilly, Tahiti, 2693. Only three copies recorded in the CCF (BnF, Aix-Marseille, Cherbourg).
Bradel binding in blue half cloth, smooth spine, long red marbled morocco title label, marbled paper sides, original wrappers preserved, modern signed binding by Boichot.
This pamphlet, which contains a large number of botanical entries on the Marquesas, Tahiti, the Sandwich Islands, New Zealand, etc., is a continuation of the study entitled Les Plantes alimentaires de l'Océanie (1875).
A rare and pleasing copy.
First edition, issued in a very small number as an offprint from the Bulletins de la Société d'encouragement pour l'industrie nationale, t. CXCI et CXCII.
Not recorded by Quérard.
The pamphlet is illustrated with three folding technical plates, engraved by Normand fils.
Bradel binding in paper-covered boards entirely clad in blue paper, with a black vertical spine label showing minor losses; a modern binding.
The work describes the apparatus devised by the chocolatier Auger, which made it possible to reduce any animal, vegetable or mineral substance to "poussières impalpables, aériformes ou éthérées".
Héricart de Thury, Chief Engineer in the Royal Corps of Mines, also sets out the various applications of this machine in medicine, pharmacy, chemistry, painting, dyeing, and related fields.
First edition, illustrated with 46 wood-engraved figures in the text, including 2 full-page plates (cf. Lorentz, IX, 740; not in Nissen).
Contemporary half red shagreen binding, spine with five raised bands showing some rubbing and a small loss at the foot, marbled paper sides, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, corners rubbed.
Some scattered foxing; a light waterstain in the lower right margin of the final leaves, without affecting the text.
An interesting work awarded the Montyon Prize by the Académie française, addressing the appearance of instinct in the mineral and vegetal worlds; the journey of pollen; carnivorous plants; constructive, maternal, and migratory instincts; remarkable instincts among certain arthropods such as spiders, bees, ants, and parasites; innate and acquired behaviours and aptitudes. The study also considers intelligence in birds, ants and bees, rats, wolves and foxes, the elephant, horse, dog, and monkey, as well as language: insect sounds, birdsong, mammalian vocalisations, and natural gestures and signs.
First edition, illustrated at the end of the volume with a folding plate entitled "Système dentaire des oiseaux" (see Crowley 916; David, p. 127; Poletti 90).
Occasional light foxing; a tear along the left margin of the plate not touching the engraved figures.
Contemporary half tawny calf, smooth spine decorated with gilt tools and fillets; a restored snag at the head of the spine, which also shows some rubbing; marbled paper boards, marbled edges.
Second edition, partly original, as it was revised, corrected and enlarged with a handbook for the cultivation of mulberry trees, setting out the principles by which the fullest advantage may be drawn from this tree, together with the presentation of a new method of cultivation designed to prevent its mortality.
Light dampstaining to the upper outer margin of the first leaves, small losses to the head- and tail-cap of the spine, a few scattered spots.
The work was reissued in 1837 and 1848.
Charles Fraissinet (1798–1856) was a pastor of the Reformed Church at Sauve (Gard).
Although closely involved in the theological controversies of his day, he is best remembered for his commitment to sericulture and for publishing several pamphlets on the subject, notably the present Guide du magnanier.
A silkworm breeder himself, he devised a method for obtaining “les œufs de vers à soie à leur plus haut point de perfection”.
This activity even appears to have tempered the mutual belligerence of the pastor and the parish priest of Sauve, since, in the prospectus for this method, Curé Bernard—his sworn enemy—nonetheless made it “un devoir d’engager tous les sériciculteurs à se procurer sans retard la méthode de M. Fraissinet”.
First edition, illustrated with four plates, three of them folding (cf. Cordier, Sinica 442).
Losses to the head and tail of the spine, marginal tears to the covers, a light dampstain to the lower portion of the upper board, one plate torn across the centre without affecting the images,
Text of the lecture delivered on 13 December 1878 before the North-China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society.
Albert-Auguste Fauvel (1851–1909), a naval officer, accompanied the Duc de Penthièvre on his voyage around the world (1866–1867).
A graduate in Manchu, he had held a post since 1872 within the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs Service.
A naturalist, he devoted himself to the study of the fauna and flora of the Chusan Islands, off Ning-Po (Numa Broc). He was also a gifted economist.
Very rare first edition, illustrated with an inserted copper-engraved plate by Plée after Turpin (cf. Pritzel 2823).
The CCFr records copies only at the Institut, Rouen, and Montpellier.
Our copy is preserved in its original sewn state with temporary pink paper covers.
Faujas de Saint-Fond (1741–1819) is of course best known as a geologist and vulcanologist, yet his work extended to every other branch of natural history.
First edition.
"Voulons & Nous plaist, qu'à commencer au premier Mars prochain, aucuns de nos Sujets de quelque estat, condition & sexe qu'ils soient, à l'Exception de ceux qui en auront obtenu nostre permission par Ecrit, ne puissent porter des Diamans, Perles et Pierres precieuses, à peine de confiscation & de Dix mille livres d'amende : Faisons deffenses sous la mesme peine, à compter du premier Avril prochain d'en faire entrer dans le Royaume ; N'entendons néantmoins comprendre dans la presente prohibition les Bagues Episcopales & les Pierreries employées aux Ornemens des Eglises".
First edition, printed in a very small number of copies, of this offprint from the "Gazette médicale de Paris" for 1854.
Modern bradel-style binding in full boards covered with blue paper, smooth spine, brown shagreen title label laid down lengthwise with a small abrasion, signed Honnelaître.
On the half-title, a signed autograph presentation inscription by Camille Desjardins: "Offert à M. le professeur Moreau, membre de l'Académie impériale de Médecine, hommage respectueux de l'auteur".
This refers to the celebrated physician François Joseph Moreau (1789–1862), a specialist in gynaecology and close to the Orléans family, for whom he served as accoucheur.
As a medical student, Camille Desjardins was a native of the island of Mauritius
First edition (cf. Neu 838.)
Light foxing.
Contemporary full tan sheep, the spine with five raised bands ruled in gilt and decorated with gilt panels and gilt floral tools; some rubbing and small defects to the spine, gilt rolls to the head- and tailcaps, surface wear to the boards, red edges, gilt fillets to the board edges, corners a little softened; a period binding.
Second edition of this treatise, first published in 1771 and reissued again in 1813 (see Mennessier de La Lance I, 162).
Our copy is offered stitched, in its provisional blue paper wrappers, the spine reinforced with an adhesive strip.
First edition, illustrated with 883 figures in the text, some heightened with colour.
Contemporary half roan in a reddish-orange hue, the spines with five raised bands ruled in gilt dots and decorated with gilt florets, some rubbing to the spines and extremities, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns.
Manuscript ownership inscriptions partly erased from the endpapers of the first volume; an orange pencil line to an endpaper in the second volume; occasional pencil marginalia in the margins of several paragraphs in both volumes; a marginal note in red ink in the right margin of p. 37 of the first volume.
First separate edition, printed in a small number of copies, taken from the Annales des sciences naturelles; the work was later republished by Baillière in 1876 (cf. O'Reilly, Nouvelle-Calédonie, 608, which records only the periodical publication).
Bradel case-binding in full green paper-covered boards, brown morocco lettering-piece lettered vertically; the original provisional upper wrapper preserved; modern binding.
The issue is illustrated at the end of the volume with an engraved plate.
A clear waterstain in the outer margins of the leaves.
Émile Bescherelle (1828–1903), president of the Société botanique de France, was a leading specialist in mosses, which he also studied in New Caledonia (1878) and in Mexico.
At the head of the blank upper wrapper, presentation inscription signed by Émile Bescherelle to Count Hippolyte-François Jaubert (1798–1874), a noted botanist and the son of a hero of Aboukir.
New edition, illustrated with a large folding line-engraved plate depicting all the animals mentioned in the text (cf. Cornet-Malagies, 158).
Half mottled fawn sheep with vellum tips, smooth spine gilt-ruled and tooled with gilt fillets, garlands and floral tools, marbled paper sides, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, marbled edges; a contemporary binding.
The author, a veterinary surgeon, had trained at Alfort.
Bound at the end, by DELACROIX, is a new edition of: "Le Nouveau maréchal-expert, ou Le Guide du du maréchal-ferrant, du vétérinaire, de l'écuyer, du propriétaire et de l'amateur ; avec un précis de la connaissance et du choix des chevaux, ânes et mulets ; de leur éducation et conservation, de leurs maladies et des moyens de les traiter. Suivi de l'indication des meilleures méthodes de ferrure et de harnachement. Et d'un traité d'équitation", printed in Paris by B. Renault in 1835 (2 preliminary leaves, pp. 5-218, one large folding plate. Mennessier de La Lance I, 367-68).
Very scarce first edition, issued in a small printing, of this offprint from the Annales des Sciences naturelles for September 1828 (cf. Engelmann I, 315).
This paper is preceded by "Extrait du rapport fait à l’Académie royale des sciences sur le mémoire présenté par MM. Audouin et Milne-Edwards, par MM. Cuvier et Duméril".
The CCF records only two copies, in Paris (Muséum) and Montpellier.
The author of several entomological papers published from 1821 onwards, Victor Audouin also took an interest in marine biology: in 1826, 1828 and 1829 he undertook, together with Henri Milne-Edwards, three field trips to Brittany and Normandy.
The present article summarises the observations made by the two young naturalists on Ascidians, Flustra, Pennatulidae, Alcyonaria, Sponges, Polyps, etc.
The preliminary report by Cuvier and Duméril expresses a highly favourable opinion of their research.
A handsome copy, bearing on the upper wrapper a presentation inscription in the hand of Henri Milne-Edwards: « Monsieur Dutrochet, de la part des auteurs ».
A physician, botanist and physiologist, Henri Dutrochet (1776–1847) is remembered for his discovery of osmotic phenomena: his « Nouvelles recherches sur l’endosmose et l’exosmose » appeared in 1828.
First edition.
Bradel binding in modern paper-covered boards of grey-blue stock, smooth spine lettered in black, original wrappers preserved; binding signed Laurenchet.
Label of the fishing library of M. Albert Petit pasted to the upper cover, no. 100.
The species are described in French, with their Latin and Greek names.
Stamp of the Société d'Acclimatation on the title-page.
First edition, with only three copies recorded in the CCF (Institut, Nîmes and Besançon).
Copy from the library of the biologist Jean-Louis-Armand Quatrefages de Bréau (1810-1892), bearing his ink stamp at the head of the half-title.
An appealing copy despite a small tear at the foot of the spine.
First edition.
The veterinarian Henri-Mamert-Onésime Delafond (1805–1861) devoted particular attention to contagious diseases of livestock, focusing especially on anthrax and contagious bovine pleuropneumonia, and published several successive monographs on these subjects throughout his career; he became director of the École d’Alfort in 1860, shortly before his death.
Light foxing; a dampstain affecting the index leaves; minor losses at the corners of the boards.
Provenance: from the library of the veterinarian Jean-Henry Magne, with his manuscript ex-libris at the head of the upper cover.
First edition of this major classification, arranged according to the Linnaean system, describing a thousand plants with remarkable precision (cf. Pritzel 9806.)
Full green vellum bindings, smooth spines tooled with double gilt fillets and gilt rolls, brown calf lettering- and volume-pieces, slight rubbing to the spines, yellow mottled edges, some corners a little softened; contemporary bindings.
The author, Abbé Fulgenzio Vitman (1728–1806), a Florentine botanist, founded the Milan botanical garden after directing that of Pavia.
Rare set of eight works by Baron Thénard, all in first edition, seven of which concern agronomy.
The son of the chemist Louis Thénard, the agronomist Paul Thénard (1819–1884) conducted extensive research on soil fertility, begun on the estate of his in-laws in Givry, where he first undertook soil analysis in order to understand the factors favourable to vine cultivation.
In 1847 his wife inherited an estate in Talmay (Côte-d’Or). While retaining Givry, he settled in Talmay to pursue his investigations into ways of improving soil fertility.
Contemporary half midnight-blue shagreen, spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt tools; slight rubbing to the spine; marbled paper boards; marbled endpapers and pastedowns; corners lightly softened; sprinkled edges.
A few insignificant marginal spots; a few distributor’s stamps at the foot of some leaves.
- I. Mémoire sur les combinaisons du phosphore avec l’hydrogène (1845, 38 pp., one folding plate with five figures). Offprint from the Annales de chimie et de physique, vol. XIV.
