Divers Traictez, a scavoir, de la nature des bains de Bourbon, & des abus qui se commettent à présent en la boisson de ces eaux… - De la Macreuse. - De la Poudre de Sympathie.- Response à Monsieur Papin Docteur en MÉDECINE touchant la Poudre de Sympathie en laquelle est traicté de l'Esprit Universel, & des propriétez de l'Ayman

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.

The treatise on the Scoter occupies pp. 1–19 of the second part. “This exquisite duck has been the subject of numerous and lengthy controversies (…) The history of the scoter deserves our attention, as it holds both gastronomic and theological interest. Because of the peculiar beliefs surrounding their origin, these birds were considered lean meat and therefore permitted during Lent.

This curious privilege arose from the fact that they appeared suddenly in countless flocks upon the water’s surface, and, aided by a taste for the marvellous, people imagined that they were born from seaweed, decayed wood, or shells.

The poet Du Bartas echoed this notion in his Création du Monde, when he celebrated this strange creature: “Ainsi le vieil fragment d'une barque se change En des canards volants, ô changement étrange Même corps fut jadis arbre verd, puis vaisseau Naguère champignon et maintenant oyseau!” It is easy to see how such a belief could reassure the most timid consciences; it thus required Pope Innocent III to issue an explicit prohibition, placing the flesh of the scoter among forbidden meats. In vain did he launch his prohibitions, for enthusiasts continued to eat them; and when the truth about these birds became known (thanks to Graindorge and the accounts of navigators), other pretexts were sought to preserve the old regulations. It was suggested that the scoter’s blood was cold, even claimed that its fat resembled fish oil, and the custom (which lasted into the nineteenth century) of eating scoters during Lent was extended to other waterfowl such as brant geese, coots, and teal, which were conveniently confused with the species sanctioned by the councils.” Cf. G. Oberlé, Les Fastes de Bacchus et de Comus, no. 869, concerning Graindorge’s “Traité de l’origine des macreuses” (1680).