PALISSY, Bernard Le moyen de devenir riche et la maniere veritable, par laquelle tous les hommes de la France pourront apprendre à multiplier & augmenter leurs thresors & possessions. 1636Paris,R. Fouet,8vo, 19th c. half calf (sl. rubbed), marbled...
Estimation :
1200 / 1800
Adjudication :
Invendu
Description
paper on sides, gilt spine, marbled endpapers, red silk marker, 2 parts : [16]-255-[1], [16]-526 pp. (lacking final blanks, on somewhat coarse paper; unobtrusive dampstaining in blank bottom margin of some quires). Nice copy.
1st collected ed. of Palissy’s two major books: "La recepte véritable" (1st ed. 1563) and "Discours admirables" (1st ed. 1580). In "Recepte véritable", “Palissy (1510-1589) discussed a wide variety of topics, including agriculture (for which he proposed better methods for farming and for the use of fertilizers), geology (in which he touched upon the origin of salts, springs, precious stones, and rock formations), mines, and forestry. He also suggested plans for an ideal garden, to be decorated with his earthenware and with biblical quotations (...). "Discours admirables" probably incorporates Palissy’s Paris lectures. It, like the earlier work, deals with an impressive array of subjects : agriculture, alchemy, botany, ceramics, embalming, engineering, geology, hydrology, medicine, metallurgy, meteorology, mineralogy, paleontology, philosophy, physics, toxicology, and zoology. The book is divided into several chapters, the first and longest of which is concerned with water. The others take up metals and their nature and generation; drugs; ice; different types of salts and their nature, effects, and methods of generation; characteristics of common and precious stones; clay and marl; and the potter’s art (...). Palissy was one of the few men of his century to have a correct notion of the origins of rivers and streams, and he stated it forcefully, denying categorically that rivers can have any source other than rainfall (...). He was probably one of the first men in France to teach natural sciences from facts, specimens and demonstrations rather than hypotheses.” (D.S.B., X, pp. 280-81).
1st collected ed. of Palissy’s two major books: "La recepte véritable" (1st ed. 1563) and "Discours admirables" (1st ed. 1580). In "Recepte véritable", “Palissy (1510-1589) discussed a wide variety of topics, including agriculture (for which he proposed better methods for farming and for the use of fertilizers), geology (in which he touched upon the origin of salts, springs, precious stones, and rock formations), mines, and forestry. He also suggested plans for an ideal garden, to be decorated with his earthenware and with biblical quotations (...). "Discours admirables" probably incorporates Palissy’s Paris lectures. It, like the earlier work, deals with an impressive array of subjects : agriculture, alchemy, botany, ceramics, embalming, engineering, geology, hydrology, medicine, metallurgy, meteorology, mineralogy, paleontology, philosophy, physics, toxicology, and zoology. The book is divided into several chapters, the first and longest of which is concerned with water. The others take up metals and their nature and generation; drugs; ice; different types of salts and their nature, effects, and methods of generation; characteristics of common and precious stones; clay and marl; and the potter’s art (...). Palissy was one of the few men of his century to have a correct notion of the origins of rivers and streams, and he stated it forcefully, denying categorically that rivers can have any source other than rainfall (...). He was probably one of the first men in France to teach natural sciences from facts, specimens and demonstrations rather than hypotheses.” (D.S.B., X, pp. 280-81).
