1 - (Medicine) Pellegrino ACCATINO Lettera chirurgica ad un amico ossia osservazione intorno ad un singolare recondito tumore sanguigno e dei segni e mezzi sicuri per conoscere tali tumori. Torino, dalla stamperia de Giuseppe Davico Librajo in Dora Grossa. no date (after 1795).

€ 600

Thorough case report of what the author calls 'tumore sanguigno', ended with the death of the patient. The symptoms on which the diagnosis is based are carefully described.

& Bibliographically and biographically not referable for us. Not in Garrison & Morton; not in NUC, ICCU and O.C.L.C.

2 - (Calamities) A.G. Horribile e spaventoso caso occorso nella città di Verona il 12 del mese d'Agosto del 1624 in Lunedì di sera à mezz' hora di notte. Dove s'intende come una Saetta venuta dal Cielo hà colto in unaTorre, dove era molti barili di polvere d'archibugio, & acceso il fuoco in detta polvere ha fracassato, & gettato à terra 200 Case, molte Chiese, e Monasteri. Con la morte di molte persone, & gravissimi danni di detta Città per più d'un milion d'oro, e altri particolari, come leggendo intenderete. Dato in luce da Francesco Mazzaroli. In Milano, & di nuovo ristampato in Roma appresso Lodovico Grignani, 1624. Si vendono à Pasquino da Pietro Spigoli.

€ 850

Interesting pamphlet describing the explosion of a tower in Verona. The building, containing weapons and gunpowder was hit from a lightning during a thunderstorm and the resulting blasting damaged several other buildings. The only reference that we were able to trace to this event refers to a chronicle different from the present one: "Ma nel 1624, all'8 d'agosto, lo "sborro" e la chiesa del Crocefisso saltarono in aria a causa di un fulmine che verso sera fece scoppiare il deposito polvere che era nella vicina Torre della Paglia: " ... essendosi impirato la polvere che era nella torretta per il fulmine che venne dall'aria, la sera del lunedì 12 agosto 1624 - narra un cronista - precipitarono tutti li detti edifici [la chiesa del Crocefisso "con il Tezon del sborro" e case de bidelli e altri ministri] e particolarmente la chiesa suddetta e case di quella con la morte anco di tre persone, essendo restato il prete curato sepolto sotto quelle rovine, et fu però vivo cavato fuori; restò però con evidente miracolo da Dio illesa una grandissima croce di legno su la quale è dipinto l'imagine del Nostro Redentore Crocefisso chiara per miracoli molti antecedenti et per quest'ultimo così evidente dalla grazia et infinita benignità del grande Iddio esaltata". (http://guide.travelitalia.com). The same source is reported in another history of the church of San Fermo, also describing the damages suffered by the church of San Domenico (http://www.veronaviva.net). The damage suffered and the amount of casualties seems quite different in the two reports. This work is not referable for us in any bibliography; apparently no copy is present in public libraries worldwide.

& Not in Melzi; not in OCLC, KVK, ICCU; http://guide.travelitalia.com/it/guide/Verona/135/; http://www.veronaviva.net/page/chiese/01%20Chiesa_di_San_Fermo_Piccolo.htm; http://www.veronaviva.net/page/chiese/01%20Chiesa_di_San_Domenico.htm.

3 - (Chinese watercolours) ANON ChineseWatercolours.

€ 2500

Beautiful series of chinese watercolours,. depicting birds, flowers and landscapes. SEE ILLUSTRATION ON PLATE V

4 - (Horsemanship, North America) ANON Die nach englischen Grundsätzen verbesserte Pferdezucht in Amerika zur Nachahmung anderer Länder. Nebst einer Nachricht von den Sächsischen Stuttereien. Leipzig, in Commission der Müllerschen Buchhandlung, 1797.

€ 1500

Only edition of the first book on horsebreeding in America. The unidentified author, who writes in German but dates his book from Philadelphia in 1795, was probably of Saxon origin. He states in his preface to have been willing to render a service to his adoptive country, the United States, by writing down some useful suggestions. The author was persuaded by friends to publish his manuscript. The book opens with a preamble of the printer, discussing the history and the activities of the Saxon institute for the improvement of horsebreeding. The book itself is divided in four chapters. In the first one the defects of horsebreeding in the USA are described, with emphasis on wrong crossings, on excessive feeding and lack of exercise of horses. The author proposes to improve horse races by dividing horses varieties in four classes as in England, i. e. race horses, hunt horses, transport horses and carriage horses, and controlling more strictly the crossings between the varieties. The second chapter deals with the different race horses and describes the features of the studs and mares which should be crossed. The third concerns horses’ reproductive period and how to deal with mares during and after pregnancy, how long permitting colts to be breast-fed, and avoiding to have mares reproduce every year. The fourth concerns essentially horse-feeding and how to improve its quality; it discusses also horse-training and the appropriate amount of exercise. These advises took some decades to be practiced, and in 1833 the American Turf Race Register was begun.

& W. Heinsius (Allgemeines Bücher-Lexikon oder Verzeichniß aller von 1700 bis zu Ende 1892 erschienenen Bücher, Leipzig 1812-1849) III, 172; not in Holzmann-Bohatta, Kress, Sabin and Wells.

5 - (Militaria, Topography) ANON Illustrazione della tavola geografica rappresentante il teatro della guerra tra le due armate austriaca e prussiana. Venezia. Giammaria Bassaglia, 1778.

€ 1000

Possibly only edition. Interesting work with a beautiful and detailed map of Bohemia, with caption in French. Even though the author does not give its source he states (p. 3) "... incisione in rame sopra un Originale riputatissimo ricco dei più minuti dettagli ... ". The map is not signed, in the cartouche is engraved "dressèe sur les observations les plus modernes par un Geographe du Roy très renommé". In the same year Johann Tobias Mayer the Young (1752-1830) published in Augsburg a map entitled Carte du Théatre de la Guerre présente en Bohème, Silésie, Moravie et Lusace suivant les dernières observations. 1778, Johann Tobias Mayer le jeune. (http://digmap1.ist.utl.pt:8080). Even though the caption is in French, and the map refers to the same war, it seems unlikely that this was the map used in the present work: in fact Mayer was not Geographe du Roi and moreover this map does not depict Bohemia only. A comparison is however impossible, due to the scarcity of both publications. The purpose of this work was to give detailed information about the place where the war between Prussia and Austria was fought. The author plans were to publish similar maps to follow the developments of the conflict in order to keep his reader well informed. Exhaustive information are given about the history of Bohemia; several towns, castles and villages are described, were the armies were camped or would most probably go next. The war referred to was the War of the Bavarian Succession, also known as Kartoffelkrieg, a "Brief war between Prussia and Austria caused by Joseph II's attempts to gain control of Bavaria. Frederick II of Prussia objected to Joseph's actions, and on 5 July 1778 Frederick crossed the border in Bohemia. The war saw no serious fighting. Frederick was unwilling to risk an attack, while the Austrians took a defensive posture, and after an advance in August was frustrated by problems of supply, disease and a strong Austrian position, Frederick withdrew (September 1778), ending his last campaign. Maria Theresa used all of her influence for peace, and the war was ended by the Peace of Tetschen, in which neither Austria nor Prussia made any significant gains." (Rickard). If the anonymous author actually published other similar works or, due also to the brevity of the conflict, the present one remained his only production, we were not able to find out. We were able to trace only 1 copy of the present edition and 1 copy of Meyer's map in public libraries worldwide.

& Rickard, J. (21 November 2000) (War of the Bavarian Succession, 5 July 1778 to 13 May 1779. In: http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/wars_bavariansuccession.html); http://digmap1.ist.utl.pt:8080/records/Kbr/html/kbr_1_1530381.html; IT\ICCU\VEAE\001113 1 copy (Biblioteca Marciana, Venice); O.C.L.C. 241301742 (Meyer's map, Library of Virginia). SEE ILLUSTRATION ON PLATE IV

6 - (Museums) ANON Le trésor de l’abbaye royale de Saint-Denis en France … A Paris, de l’imprimerie de J. Chardon, 1746. (bound with) Les tombeaux des rois, des reines & des autres qui son dans l’Eglise Royale de Saint-Denis. Same year, place and publisher. (and with) Les raretez qui se voyent dans l’Eglise Royale de St. Denis. 1745, same place and publisher.

€ 500

One of the numerous editions of this guide to the monastery of Saint-Denis, where the Kings of France were buried. The approbation is dated 1715, the Bibliothèque Nationale possesses copies issued until 1768 in the same size and with the same content. Due to their use by pilgrims all editions are understandably rare. The monastery of Saint Denis was associated since the period of Merovingian kings to the Royal House of France. King Dagobert was buried there for the first and subsequently most French king and some high-ranking noblemen (as e. g. Bertrand Du Guesclin) were buried there. In the meantime the monastery amassed a treasure made with the presents from the kings to the abbots. The monks were charged with the compilation of the “Grandes chroniques de France”. The monastery was alienated during the French Revolution; restorations carried out during the XIX century have preserved its structure. It is then as now a real museum of the funeral sculpture of Middle Age and Renaissance. The treasure was mostly sold during the Revolution and only a small part has been recovered. In the monastery there was also a cabinet of curiosities, which was one of the earliest in its kind. “Accumulation, definition, classification; such was the threefold aim of the earliest cabinet of curiosities. Already the treasure of the Abbey church of Saint Denis offered the image of an ordered universe in miniature, with the most prominent relics placed at the center and surrounded by those of secundary importance.” (Mauries).

& P. Mauries (Cabinets of curiosities, London, Thames & Hudson, 2002) p. 25; FRBNF36382620.

7 - (Pedagogy) ANON Wie kann man Kinder von dem Fehler: Thiere zu martern am leichtesten abbringen. München, Kaths deutschen Schulfonds Bücherverlage, 1794.

€ 750

The author's describes how to dissuade children from the bad habit to torture animals. Four short tales are given to this purpose. The engraved frontispiece depicts a man lecturing three young boys and a young girl. A nice booklet about an uncommon topic. We were able to trace only one copy in public libraries.

& O.C.L.C. 165884696 (1 copy, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, München).

8 - (Colours) Carlo BARATTIERI Conghiettura sulla superfluita della materia colorata, o de' colori nella luce, e del supposto intrinseco suo splendore. Piacenza, Presso Niccolo Orcesi Regio Stampatore, 1793.

€ 700

First separate edition, published in in the same year in Opuscoli scelti sulle scienze e sulle arti, Tome 16. First scientific magazine published in Milano, it was edited by Carlo Amoretti and Francesco Soave and first published (from 1775 until 1777) under the title Scelta di opuscoli interessanti tradotti da varie lingue, 1778 until 1803 as Opuscoli scelti, and from 1804 as Nuovi opusculi scelti. Interestingly, the only work reported by Barattieri in his conghiettura, was also published, a few years earlier, in the same magazine (Opoix, Osservazioni fisico-chimiche sui colori, in: Scelta di opuscoli, 1777), while he seems totally anaware of contributions given to the study of light and colours from scientists as Format or Descartes. Count Carlo Barattieri was born in Piacenza in 1738 and died in Milano in 1806. According to Poggendorff he traveled through England, France and Germany, ans spent a long tim at the court of Frederic the Great; the present work is against Newton's theory of colours. Barattieri considers the light as a colourless, brightless fluid made of omogemeous particles; as these particles reach the retina, this will be stimulated in a different degree according to their amount and their speed, and will perceive them as the brithness we are use to associate with light. ("la Luce è un sottilissimo fluido senza materia colorata, senza colori e senza splendore, composto di particelle omogenee ... (p. 6-7) ... La forza più o meno diretta, più o meno intensa, con cui ... mettono in azione efficace l'organo della vista, ... è la sola vera cagione la quale eccita in noi quella sensazione, che denominiamo Splendore, ... (p. 9)").

& According to I.C.C.U. 3 copies in Italian libraries (1 copy Biblioteca dell'Archiginnasio, Bologna and 2 Biblioteca Palatina, Parma); Poggendorff, vol. I, column 97).

9 - (Botany) Lodovico BELLARDI Osservazioni botaniche con un saggio d'appendice alla flora pedemontana del medico Lodovico Bellardi indirizzate al signor conte Felice S. Martino sopra alcune piante nominate nella topografia medica di Ciamberì e sua difesa. Torino, presso Francesco Prato libraio (colophon: Stamperia reale), 1788.

€ 750

Carlo Antonio Lodovico Bellardi (Cigliano near Vercelli 1741 - Torino 1828) studied in Turin were he became professor of botany; he collaborated at the publication of Allioni's work Flora Pedemontana. He was appointed director of the botanical garden of the 'Valentino' (Turin). The genus Bellardia was named after him.

& Hoefer, V columns 220-221; Jackson (Guide to the Litarature of Botany, 1881) p. 320 for another work by Bellardi; Banks III, p. 147 (for the 'appendice' only); not in Plesch and Hunt.

10 - (Physics, Astronomy) Nicole-Pierre Bertholon De l’électricité des météores, ouvrage dans lequel on traite de l’électricité naturelle en général, & des météores en particulier; contenant l’exposition et l’explanation des principaux phénomènes qui ont rapport à la météorologie électrique, d’après l’observation et l’expérience. A Lyon, chez Bernuset, 1787.

€ 1200

First edition, appeared also with Paris as printing place. A German version appeared in 1792. Pierre-Nicole Bertholon (Lyons 1742 -1800) was a Lazarist priest, who settled in Montpellier as a professor of physics in 1784. He taught there until 1791 and afterwards in Lyons from 1797 to his death. “Bertholon’s scientific contribution is important both quantitatively and qualitatively, for it includes areas of great diversity – including urban public health, agriculture, aerostatics, and fire. He is particularly well-known for his work in physics, especially in electricity. He played the same rôle in the south of France that the abbé Nollet played in Paris; that is, he contributed greatly to the development of research in electricity – as much by work and personal experiments as by his lectures. Three principal works brought him fame. ‘De l’électricité des météores’ is a study of all atmospheric manifestations, as well as volcanoes and earthquakes; Bertholon proposes to overcome the latter by sinking metal shafts into the ground. Influenced by his friend Benjamin Franklin he supplied southern France with lightning rods” (DSB). “Natural phenomena connected with electricity including earthquakes, volcanoes, hail, and waterspouts. Details of the experiments of D’Alibard, De Romas, Beccaria, and others. Pernicious practice of ringing bells on the approach of a storm; cases of polarity reversal of compass needles in a storm” (Wheeler Gift). This book inspired later works of Pier Antonio Vassalli Eandi in Turin.

& DSB II, 82-83; Wheeler Gift 539; Ronalds 54; Cat. Weil 33, 57.

11 - (Watches) Ferdinand BERTHOUD. Essai sur l’horlogerie dans lequel on traite de cet art relativement a l’usage civil, à l’astronomie et à la navigation, en établissant des principes confirmés par l’experience. Dédié aux Artistes et aux Amateurs. Tome Premier (-Second). Paris, chez Jombert, Musier et Panckoucke, 1763.

€ 3500

First edition, reprinted in 1786 without modifications. It had been preceded in 1759 by a short tract on the regulation of watches, which secured the author European fame. Ferdinand Berthoud, a Swiss horologist (Neuchatel 1725 - Groslay 1807), was the most prominent author on horological matters during the second half of the XVIII century. This book was his main claim to fame. “Less than half of Vol. 1 is devoted to describing various types of clocks and watches. The drawings are admirable, many are in perspective and some show what are now termed exploded views.The remainder of the volume describes in great detail the actual operations of making clocks and watches, including making springs, enamelling dials and gilding ... The second volume starts with wheel teeth and the calculation of trains. Then follows a long series of experiments on the pendulum, and the effect on its arc and isochronism of different escapements. From these the author concludes, and probably was the first to conclude, that the aim should be, not an isochronous pendulum, but an isochronous combination of pendulum and escapement. After several chapters on the temperature compensation of pendulums, a similar series of experiments is described on watch balances, from which the author succeeds in reaching a fair degree of temperature compensation by varying the stiffness of the mainspring and the mass of the balance wheel. He describes an observatory clock and two designs of marine time-piece, in which he uses curb compensation with a gridiron ...” (Baillie). “... B. is one for whom the invention of the “spring detent” form of chronometer escapement has been claimed” (Wolf).

& Baillie page 262; Wolf page 158; Kat. Berl. 1759; Bromley 72; Houzeau-Lancaster 10199; Polak 700; Crone coll., no 551.

12 - (Economy) Matteo BIFFI TOLOMEI Esame del commercio attivo toscano e dei mezzi di estenderlo per ottenere l'aumento della popolazione e della produzione di Matteo Biffi Tolomei patrizio fiorentino, Firenze, Nella  Stamperia di Pietro Allegrini, 1792.

€ 2000

First edition. Matteo Biffi Tolomei (Firenze 1730 - 1808) was an economist, senator and member of the Accademia dei Georgofili.

"Nel 1791, in risposta ad un quesito dell'Accademia dei Georgofili, egli, seguendo l'indirizzo eclettico adottato dall'amico Gianni, sostenne la necessita' del libero commercio dei grani e del protezionismo industriale". (Mori).

& Mori (Le riforme leopoldine) pp. 17-18, 62-63. Cossa p. 144. Kress Library S-5380; Moreni II, p. 397; Del Pane (La questione del commercio dei grani) I, pp. 332-335; DBI X, 386-390; Einaudi I, 92 n. 494; Moreni II, 397; ICCU: IT\ICCU\UFIE\001013.

13 - (Académie Française, Académie Royale des Sciences and Académie Royale de Peinture et Sculpture) Jean-Paul BIGNON Discours prononcé dans l’Académie Françoise le lundy 15ème juin 1693. A Paris, chez la Veuve de J. B. Coignard, 1693. Bound with: Jean de La Bruyère Discours prononcé dans l’Académie Françoise … le Lundy 15ème Juin 1693, jour de sa réception. A Paris, chez E. Michallet, 1693. (And with) François de Clermont-Tonnerre, bishop of Noyon Discours prononcé dans l’Académie Françoise le Lundy 13ème Décembre 1694. A Paris, chez J. B. Coignard, 1694. (And with) Charles-Irénée Castel de Saint-Pierre Discours prononcé dans l’Académie Françoise le Jeudy 3ème Mars 1695. A Paris, chez J. B. Coignard7, 1695. (And with) Jean-Baptiste Henri de Valincour Discours prononcé dans l’Académie Françoise le Samedy 27ème Juin 1699. A Paris, chez J. B. Coignard, 1699. (And with) Jean de La Chapelle Harangue au Roy d’Espagne au nom de l’Académie Françoise. A Paris, chez J. B. Coignard, 1700. (And with) Nicolas De Malézieu & Jean Galbert de Campistron Discours prononcez dans l’Académie Françoise le Jeudy 16ème Juin 1701. A Paris, chez J. B. Coignard, 1701. (And with) Louis de Sacy Discours prononcez dans l’Académie Françoise le Jeudy 17ème Mars 1701. A Paris, chez J. B. Coignard, 1701. (And with) Reglement ordonné par le Roy pour l’Académie Royale des Sciences du 26 de Janvier 1699. A Paris, de l’Imprimerie Royale, 1699. (And with) Establissement de l’Académie Royale de Peinture et Sculpture … A Paris, chez Pierre Le Petit, 1664.

€ 4500

An extraordinary ensemble composed by seven speeches (all in their first editions) of entrant members of the Académie Française, a speech directed to the first Bourbon King of Spain and two sets of regulation, the first being the one of the Académie des Sciences under Fontenelle and the second of the Académie de Peinture et Sculpture after its reformation in 1664. Two of the speeches are dedication copies, the first signed by Malézieu to Père Jean Hardouin (1646 –1729), the Jesuit librarian of Louis XIV, and the second signed by De Sacy to Michel Le Tellier (1643 – 1719), the confessor of Louis XIV and the spiritus movens behind the revocation of the edict of Nantes. An additional reason of interest is the binding, whose spine incorporates the monogram of the superintendent Fouquet.

¨        Jean-Paul Bignon (Paris 1662 – 1743), a divine who had studied in the seminar of Port-Royal, was Royal Librarian. From 1706 to 1714 he was the president of the committee directing the Journal des Savants, a position he took over this position again in 1724.

¨        Jean de La Bruyère (Paris 1645 –1696), the celebrated author of the “Caractères”, one of the most famous XVII century French writers, was elected to membership after a first unsuccessful attempt in 1691. “Après la publication de son livre, le discours de réception de La Bruyère à l'Académie a été le grand événement de sa vie littéraire... Il était fort attendu; on prétendait qu'il ne savait faire que des portraits, qu'il était incapable de suite, de transitions, de liaison, de tout ce qui est nécessaire dans un morceau d'éloquence. La Bruyère, ainsi mis au défi, se piqua d'honneur, et voulut que son discours comptât et fit époque dans les fastes académiques... Son discours, un peu long, était certes le plus remarquable que l'Académie eût entendu à cette date, de la bouche d'un récipiendaire.” (Sainte-Beuve).

¨        François de Clermont-Tonnerre (1629 - 1701), the archetypal courtier, deserved his election by funding a literary prize destined to (soi-disant) poets celebrating Louis XIV.

¨        Charles-Irénée Castel de Saint-Pierre (Saint-Pierre-Eglise in Normandy, 1658 – Paris 1743) was the controversial author of the Polysynodie (1718). In this work he proposed to temper enlightened despotism by a complex system of councils; an important feature of the system was to be a political academy of forty experts, appointed by the king upon nomination by the heads of the great corporations -magistracy, clergy and nobility- and which should in turn recommand candidates for the principal state offices, in addition to studying all political questions. This government, called 'aristomonarchy' by its inventor, would both deny any political role to the masses and strictly limit the functions of the hereditary nobility. The publication of the Polysynodie caused Castel to be excluded from the Académie, because his book had been found insulting to the defunct and the present kings.

¨        Jean-Baptiste Henri de Valincour (Paris 1653 – 1730) was a mediocre writer, who ransomed his lack of literary qualities by his close friendship with Boileau and Racine, whose successor at the Académie he was.

¨        Jean De La Chapelle (Bourges 1655 – Paris 1723), a now forgotten writer, addressed in the name of the Académie the first Bourbon King of Spain, who was none else than the young Philippe d’Anjou, the grandson of Louis XIV. His speech was an early indication of the influence France will exert on Spanish culture during the XVIII century.

¨        The speeches of Nicolas de Malézieu and Jean-Henri de Campistron were printed in an unique pamphlet. Malézieu (Paris 1650 – 1727), was a polymath who wrote a famous Traité de géometrie ad usum of the Duke of Bourgogne and several literary works. Campistron (Toulouse 1656 – Paris 1723) is today esssentially remembered as the author of three libretti put in music by Marin Marais.

¨        Louis de Sacy (Paris 1654 –1727), a lawyer, was one of the four members of the Académie who asked without success to listen to the arguments brought forth by Castel de Saint-Pierre before deciding his exclusion from the Académie. His dedication to Le Tellier indicates some influence in the Court milieu.

¨        The Académie des Sciences was founded in Paris in 1666 by Colbert. Its first secretary was Jean Baptiste Duhamel, who wrote its history until 1698 and was instrumental to save it from collapse in the last decade of the XVII century. In 1697 he handed his position to Fontenelle, but continued to influence the management of the Académie. In 1699 Louis XIV made it a royal institution under his protection, the Académie Royale des Sciences. This is thus the first set of regulations issued after the reform of the last years of the XVII century and its transformation into a royal institution. In it there were i. a. dispositions for research funding and for exchange of information with non-member scientists and scientists resident abroad. The famous series of the Comptes-Rendus, made possible by this reform, started in 1700 and lasted until the end of the Académie in 1793.

¨        The Académie de Peinture and Sculpture was founded in 1648, during the reign of the infant King Louis XIV, and was dissolved in 1793 by the Convention. “It transformed art production in France from a craft-based activity to a profession which enjoyed the respect of monarchy and state, and won the envy of foreign rivals. Its principal activities centred upon its art school, which taught art theory and drawing; the Académie de France in Rome, which gave winners of the Prix de Rome competition the opportunity to study the classical tradition at first hand; the conférences, which publicly debated current issues in art theory; and the Salons, exhibition of members’work that served to increase the public profile of the institution …” (The dictionary of art). Under Le Brun as its chancellor, the Académie had its rank recognized as equal to that of the Académie Française. “The political usefulness of the new Académie was not lost on the state. Jean-Baptiste Colbert ... supported the Académie through measures known as ‘la grande restauration de 1663’, awarding it 4000 livres a year and obliging the brevetaires who still hesitated between the Académie et la Maîtrise (another name for the Communauté des Maîtres peintres et sculpteurs de Paris) to join the former … Nevertheless the Académie was no mere appendage of royal power. From its first it sought to bring together artists who rejected the guild’s vulgar pleasures or the precarious security of court favor… “ (The dictionary of art). The set of regulations contains dispositions for the implementation of the Prix de Rome, which become effective with the opening of the French academy in Rome in 1666. Another essential feature of these regulations is the institution of conferences, where academicians and known amateurs as e. g. André Félibien (himself no member of the Académie) discussed the theory of painting and sculpture. Thirdly, these statutes require academicians to submit works for annual exhibitions of painting and sculpture. The first exhibition of this sort took place in 1664, contemporarily to the appearance in print of these regulations. After 1673 these exhibitions were made biennial.

& FRBNF30104668 (Bignon), FRBNF36580400 (La Bruyère), FRBNF30250808 (Clermont-Tonnerre), FRBNF30707304 (Castel de S. Pierre), FRBNF31522263 (Valincour), FRBNF30707307 (Harangue), FRBNF30866165 (Malézieu/Campistron), FRBNF31275921 (Sacy), FRBNF33827656 (Reglement de l’Académie des Sciences). On La Bruyère see Sainte-Beuve (La Bruyère in Portraits Litéraires, Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, Paris 1956) pages 1000-1023. On the Académie des Sciences see J. B. Duhamel (Regiae scientiarum Academiae historia ...), Paris, Michallet, 1698 and “Reglement, usages et science dans la France de l'absolutisme” (A l'occasion du troisième centenaire du règlement instituant l'Académie royale des sciences, 26 janvier 1699: actes du colloque international, Paris, 8-10 juin 1999); réunis par Christiane Demeulenaere-Douyère et Éric Brian. London, Paris and New-York, Éd. Tec & doc, 2002, passim. The 1664 set of regulations of the Académie Royale de Peinture et Sculpture seems not to be present in the Opale Plus Catalogue of the BN Paris, which only mentions a set of 1699 regulations. On the Académie de Peinture et de Sculpture see The Dictionary of Art XXIV, pages 166-169. About the binding see: Olivier 1398.

14 - (Engineering, Architecture) Giovan Battista Borra Trattato della cognizione pratica delle resistenze … ad uso di ogni sorta di edifizi. Coll’aggiunta delle Armature di varie maniere di coperti, volte, ed altre cose di tal genere. In Torino, 1748, nella Stamperia Reale.

€ 1700

Only edition. Giovan Battista Borra (San Giorgio Canavese near Turin 1712 – Turin 1786) studied with the architect B. A. Vittone, for whom he engraved some plates for his textbook “Istruzioni elementari per l’architettura”. During the year 1749 he was in Rome and he met there R. Wood, who invited him to take part as a designer to the archeological expedition he was organizing together with J. Dawkins and J. Brouverie. The expedition left from Naples in 1750 and returned to London in the autumn of 1751. The product of this expedition were the two magnificent books on Palmyra and Baalbek, appeared in 1753 and 1757 respectively and immediately translated into French, for both of which Borra designed all plates, which were engraved by Foudrinier and others. Borra came back to Turin in the late 1752 and resided there until the rest of his life, building several edifices in Turin and other localities of the Kingdom. Beyond this textbook also a series of 12 views of Turin appeared with his name in 1749. The book is divided in four parts and discusses subjects as  the constructions of arches, vaults and domes, the resistence of the materials more commonly used for building and that of the walls and other constructive elements to an applied pressure. The fourth section is a complete overview of the preparations necessary to building, and contains a discussion of the different types of woods used in architecture, the manner and time of the year to cut the trees providing them, how to make bricks of good quality, how to choose the best sand and lime, the choice of the most appropriate grounds and instructions how to build on every site. This textbook on practical architecture was reputed among the best ones written in Italy during the XVIII century; its strict mathematical treatment prevented however its widespread adoption.

& Comolli III, pages 256-257; Riccardi I/1, 169. 1: “Buona edizione”; Cicognara 887: “Trattato utile in ogni pratica scuola d’arti e mestieri”; DBI XII, pages 807-809; not in Fowler, Millard Collection, Kat. Berl. and Roberts/Trent.

15 - (Painting) Abraham BOSSE Le peintre converty aux precises et universelles regles de son art. Avec un raisonnement abregé au sujet des tableaux, bas-reliefs & autres ornements que l on peut faire sur les diverses superficies des bastimens. Et quelques advertissemens contre les Err. Paris, Abraham Bosse, 1667. Bound with: A. BOSSE au lecteur, sur les causes qu'il croit avoir euës, de discontinuer le cours de ses leçons geometrales et perspectives, dedans l'Academie Royale de la Peinture et de la Sculpture, & mesme de s'en retirer. Paris, A. Bosse, 1667. And with: BOSSE Discours tendant a desabuser ceux qui ont creu, que l'Auteur d'un Traité qui a pour Titre, Entretiens sur les vies et sur les ouvrages des plus excellens peintres anciens et modernes; avoit pretendu m'attaquer dans sa Préface. Paris, A. Bosse, 1667.

€ 2500

First edition. This work is written in the form of a dialogue between Ariste, an amateur who would like to build, an architect, a painter, a "disciple" and the author himself. All the representatives of these different arts are asking for Bosse's advice. This allows Bosse to express once again his ideas regarding perspective in painting and architecture. Abraham Bosse, who was born in Tours in 1602 is best known as an engraver but he was also the first professor of perspective at the newly founded Académie Royale from 1648 to 1661, when he was forced to leave due to disagreements with other Académicians. The two addresses that follow the book explain why in Bosse's own opinion, he had been forced to leave the Académie and they also respond to comments made about Bosse by Félibien in the preface to the first part of the latter's Entretiens, published a year earlier.

& Cicognara 91; Berlin cat. 2381; Sophie Join-Lambert & Maxime Préaud (Abraham Bosse savant graveur. Paris et Tours, Bibliothéque nationale de France/Museé des beaux arts de Tours, 2004) n. 310, 311 and 312; DSB, II, pages 333-334.

16 - (Geometry) (Petrus BOURDIN) Geometria elementa. Parisiis, apud Petrum Billaine, 1639.

€ 2000

First edition. Pierre Bourdin (Moulin 1595 - Paris 1653), a Jesuit, was professor of humanities, and later of rhetorics and mathematics at La Flèche. He went to Paris, where he stayed at the Collége Clermont until his death. He wrote books about geometry, mathematics, optics astronomy and military architecture. His fame is mainly due to his dispute with Descartes (see Arlew for an exthensive report of the matter).

& L. C. Karpinski, F. W. Kokomoor (The teaching of elementary Geometry in the Seventeenth Century. In: Isis, vol 10 n. 1 (Mar. 1928), pp. 21-32) p. 24; De Backer - Sommervogel II, 29-30 (does not mention this works, but a Prima Geometria elementa published in Paris one year later); R. Arlew, M. Glicksman Grene (Descartes and his contemporaries: meditations, objections and replies. University of Chicago Press, 1995) pp. 208-225; not in Riccardi; not in O.C.L.C.

17 - (Physics) Louis Castel Le vrai système de physique générale de M. Isaac Newton, exposé et analysé en parallèle avec celui de Descartes; à la portée du commun des physiciens. A Paris, chez Claude-François Simon, 1743.

€ 1600

Only edition, the privilege was shared between the publishers Simon and Jorry. Louis-Bertrand Castel (Montpellier 1688 – Paris 1757), a Jesuit, was “probably the most vociferous opponent of Newtonian science during the second quarter of the XVIII century in France. He failed to block the gradual acceptance of Newton’s ideas because the Cartesian rationalism that he had tried to establish found diminishing favor with French scientists, more and more influenced by the merits of the experimental approach … Although Castel published a creditable anti-Newtonian theory that succeeded in delaying the acceptance of Newton’s ideas in France, he is remembered as the spokesman of the French scientists who saw in Newton a threat to the prestige of their national hero, Descartes, and a threat to their religious faith. While Descartes’s metaphysical system had generally been abandoned by the thinkers of the Enlightenment, Newton’s growing prestige brought about a gradual rally to the physics and astronomy of Descartes ... Even though Castel felt competent to refute Cartesian science, he never abandoned Descartes’s a priori, rationalistic approach to science – hence his impatience with a science based on experimentation rather than on a logical process. Pascal’s fundamental objection to Cartesian physics … was that Descartes had reasoned a priori in physics instead of observing and experimenting. It was the latter approach to science that so many physicists and astronomers of the XVIII century, with Castel at their head, found repugnant. As a consequence of this attitude, Cartesian physicists had rendered the French scientists indolent; they preferred an attractively reasoned system, with daring ideas based on the logical process, to seeking scientific truth painfully and laboriously. The net result of the Cartesian approach was the relative stagnation of research in France. This leads one to appreciate Castel’s reaction to Newton: he complained about the numerous experiments that formed the basis of Newton’s theory because they were not within the reach of the common man, and he reproached Newton with wanting to reduce man to ‘using only his eyes’. Physics, for Castel, must be based on ‘reason’ rather than on ‘observation’. Hence his contempt for the ‘complicated laboratories’ of the disciples of Newton … (The system Castel proposed to replace Newton’s) was an attempt to harmonize philosophy, scientific curiosity, and religious dogma by means of rationalism” (DSB). The fame of Castel, rather than on this unsuccessful attempt to stem the tide of Newtonian science in France (mightily secunded by Voltaire), rests today essentially on his “clavier à couleurs”, a musical instrument which produced different color strips together with notes, which has been improved subsequently by various artisans in Europe and USA.

& De Backer-Sommervogel II, 831, 12; DSB III, pages 114-115; Babson 45; Wallis 59; Geometry and Space (Collection De Vitry, Sotheby, London, 2002) no. 116.

18 - (Surveying) Girolamo Cataneo Opera del misurare … Libri II. Nel primo si insegna a misurar, e partir i campi. Nel secondo a misurar le muraglie, imbottar grani, vini, fieni, & strami; col livellar l’acque, & altre cose necessarie agli agrimensori. Brescia, appresso Francesco & Pier Maria Marchetti fratelli, 1572.

€ 2500

First edition, reprinted several times until the end of the following century. Girolamo Cataneo (fl. second half of the XVI century) was a renowned military engineer born in Brescia. Beyond the present book he authored some tracts of military matter, one of which enjoyed widespread fame as witnessed by several reprints and a French translation. The present book was conceived as a manual providing instructions for every type of measurements, and specifically for surveying (Cataneo was an expert builder of fortresses, thus an excellent surveyor; in his book on fortification there is an illustration of a surveyor, maybe the same Cataneo, measuring a distance), for architectural purposes (measuring the height and length of walls) and for agricultural purposes (measurements of the quantities of solids, as wood, seeds, hay and dry grass and gauging of wine in jars). The last part concerns hydraulics and the manner to conduct canals from one location to the other and how to determine their level. Cataneo does not use complicated mathematics and the book is destined to practitioners on the countryside rather than to the skilled architects and surveyors acquainted with modern instruments. In fact Cataneo does not use more complex equipment than the usual surveyor’s square. His tables for the measurements of solids are remarkably accurate. Practical “minor” tasks were not foreign to the activities of earlier scientists; even Kepler wrote a tract on wine gauging, appeared in Graz in 1616.

& Riccardi I/1, 316. 7: “Raro … Buona edizione”; Oberlé (Fastes) 914 (second part only), Honeyman 627; Adams C-1019; not in Kiely.

19 - (Engineering) Giuseppe CEREDI Tre discorsi sopra il modo d’alzar acque dai luoghi bassi. per adacquar terreni. Per levar l’acque sorgenti, & piovute dalle campagne, che non possono naturalmente dare loro il decorso. Per mandare l’acqua da bere alle città, che n’hanno bisogno, & per altri simili usi. Parma, Seth Viotti, 1567.

€ 6500

Only edition. Giuseppe Ceredi (fl. half of the XVI century; probably born in Piacenza) was a practicing physician and an amateur technologist. This book, Ceredi’s only published work, is dedicated to Alessandro Farnese, Duke of Parma. It is divided in three parts or “discorsi”; in the first part Ceredi delineates a history of hydraulics from Thales onwards and goes on to discuss the problems caused by the scarcity of water in various places in Europe, especially in Germany and how to supply towns with water. Then he discusses the devices to raise water according to Vitruvius as well as to some modern authors who had followed Vitruvian teachings rather uncritically. The second is dedicated essentially to the discussion of the Archimedean screw, on which Ceredi’s machine was based, and contains the description and the criticism of some technical constructions made by Michelangelo for the Duke of Parma. The third contains a wealth of subjects, which bear only a partial relationship with hydraulics. Ceredi is one of the founders of the Italian school of hydraulics, which will be brought to Europe-wide renown during the XVII century by scientist as Benedetto Castelli and the same Galileo, and the importance of this book for the development of hydraulics in Italy should not be underestimated. In fact the Archimedean screw, widely known during the Hellenistic and Roman periods, had been completely forgotten in the Middle Ages and was rediscovered by Ceredi with this book. “Ceredi was interested in the construction and use of the Archimedean screw for the irrigation of the fields and the draining of swamps. Results led him to specify a maximum length and optimum dimension for the water-channel, to suggest batteries of screws for lifts higher than the efficient maximum length and to examine the design of the cranks and other devices for turning the screws”. (Drake & Drabkin). The pumps made according to Ceredi’s model are shown in parts and dissections; the four folding plates depict respectively a combination of three pumps, the second the same combination arranged on two levels above each other in order to be able to extract water from greater depths, the third shows an arrangement of four pumps around a central axis turned by means of a large wheel put in motion by a horse, the fourth a smaller version of this arrangement to be operated by a hand-wheel.

& Brunet I, 339. “Livre peu commun”; Honeyman 661; Cicognara 895: ”Operetta dotta ed ingegnosa ...”; STC 165; Adams C-1280 (one incomplete copy); Riccardi I, 339-340 (also incomplete copy, with two plates instead of four); Catalogue Weil 25, no. 89: “The book is an important source for Renaissance technique and is now rare”; S. Drake & I. E. Drabkin (Mechanics in XVIth century Italy, 1969) page 52; not in Roberts/Trent and in the architectural bibliographies despite its importance for early urbanistics.

20 - (Nielli, Russia) Sebastiano CIAMPI Osservazioni intorno alla esercitazione del Ch. Sig. Com. Cicognara sulla origine, composizione e decomposizione De' Nielli con un Appendice sopra lo stato delle Arti e della Civiltà in Russia prima di Pietro il Grande s.l. (Venezia). 1828.

€ 600

First separate edition. "Il sacerdote Sebastiano Ciampi (1769-1847) fu filosofo, archeologo e grecista di fama. Insegnò dialettica e lingua greca all'Università di Pisa e nel 1807 fu nominato ordinario della cattedra di filologia e di storia comparata delle lettere e delle belle arti dell'Università di Varsavia, dove rimase fino al 1822. Autore di numerose e pregevoli opere di erudizione storica e letteraria, si rese particolarmente noto per i suoi studi sulla storia medievale italiana e sulle relazioni culturali con la Polonia e con la Russia. Alla sua morte, lasciò tutti i suoi manoscritti alla Biblioteca Forteguerriana." (http://www.comune.pistoia.it). The niello is a black enamel-like alloy (usually of sulfur with silver, copper or lead) used to fill an incised design on the surface of another metal. These two papers by Ciampi are about a work by Cicognara (Dell'origine, composizione e decomposizione dei nielli, Venezia 1827) originally published in the first volume of esercitazioni scientifiche e letterarie dell'ateneo di Venezia, 1827. Cicognara's purpose was to discuss and correct a previous work written by Du-Chesne about the nielli. Count Leopoldo Cicognara was a "Politician, writer on art, and collector of Italian antiquities, born at Ferara 26 November, 1767; died at Venice, 5 March, 1834. ... Towards the close his life Cicognara became an enthusiast for niello, and wrote a memoir which has since remained a classic (Memorie spettanti alla storia della calcografia, Prato, 1831, with atlas). The appearance of this treatise created such a demand for this kind of enamel that many spurious pieces were manufactured and sold as part of the Count's collection, and Cicognara himself was, in consequence, accused of counterfeiting. But modern critics have exonerated him." (Gillet). In the first work Ciampi comments Cicognara Dell'origine ... and describes at length the origin of the word niello and the history of this technique. Very interesting is Ciampi's second work, where an exhaustive history of the niello technique in Russia from the antiquity until Peter the Great is given. In the last three pages is given a list of unpublished manuscripts relating to Russian history owned by Ciampi. Cole only mentions Cicognara's work of 1827 but not Ciampi'answer. Cicognara's extensive work of 1831 is well known, less frequently mentioned is the previous one of 1827; this latter is present in 5 public libraries in Italy (ICCU) and 1 only worldwide (OCLC) whereas Ciampi's work in this separate edition cannot be traced in any public library. See also item n.75 in this catalogue.

& Cole I, 293; Gillet, L. (1908) (Count Leopoldo Cicognara. In: The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved March 28, 2009 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03768d.htm); ICCU IT\ICCU\TO0E\074066 (for Cicognara, 1827); O.C.L.C. 81995627 (for Cicognara, 1827); (http://www.comune.pistoia.it/forteguerriana/inventari_fondi.htm).

21 - (Textiles, Dyeing) Louis-Alexandre DAMBOURNEY Recueil De Procédés et D'Expériences sur Les Teintures Solides Que Nos Végétaux Indigênes Communiquent Aux Laines & Aux Lainages. Imprimé par ordre du gouvernement. Paris, D. Pierres, 1786.

€ 1300

First edition. Louis-Alexandre Dambourney (1722-1795) was a French botanist specialised in obtaining paints from plants in order to colour cloth. He was nominated 'intendant' of the botanical garden in Rouen where he was in a good position to study plants and their properties. In 1772 he succeeded in creating a beautiful red on cotton. The governement then asked him to publish the present work which was paid for by them. It is a complete description of the technique of colouring cloth with natural pigments and contains a list of the plants that can be used with full recipices of which part of the plant to use, the quantity and time to cook and the resulting colour on the various kinds of cotton and wool. "Most of the book consists of an alphabetical list of hundreds of French domestic plants which will yeld dyes. D. (1722 - 1795) was the director of the Rouen botanical garden and succeded in cultivating madder (Rubio tinctorum) in Normandy. He also recognised the possibility of extracting Indigo from wood (Isatis tinctoria)." (Ron)

& Ron n. 280; Siegelaub (editor) (Bibliographica Textilia Historiae. New York 1997) p. 89; Lawrie n. 139.

22 - (Astronomy) Josephi DIONYSII De aurorae borealis origine Praelectio habita in Gymnasio Maceratensi V. Idus Novembris 1778. (colophon: Maceratae Typis Bartholomaei Capitanii Impress. Pub., & Universitatis Studiorum. Superiorum Facultate).

€ 500

First edition. The author describes the aurora borealis, giving the opinion of Gassendi, Halley, Mairan et Franklin on the subject. We were not able to find any information about the author.

& Not in Houzeau-Lancaster; not in O.C.L.C.; ICCU locates 3 copies in 2 public libraries (IT\ICCU\ANAE\015328).

23 - (Painting) Anton Francesco DONI Disegno ... partito in più ragionamenti ... Venice, Gabriel Giolito de' Ferrari, 1549.

€ 4200

First edition, republished in facsimile in 1970. Anton Francesco Doni (Florence 1513 - Venice or Monselice, 1574) led a tumultuous life between his native town, Genoa, Pavia, Milan, Piacenza, where he befriended Ludovico Domenichi, Giuseppe Betussi and Girolamo Parabosco. Later on he returned to Florence where he set a short-lived publishing house. He quit Florence in 1547 and moved to Venise, possibly to escape an indictment due to his reformed religious leanings or otherwise because of the failure of his enterprise. In Venise he earned his living as a hack writer for the vernacular press. He authored books on multifarious subjects, among which the first bibliography of Italian books, theatrical pieces, satirical writings, a book on medals and one on imprese (emblems) which remained in manuscript until 1858. This book had been preceded by a shorter tract on drawing, published in the second book of his letters, printed in 1547, where he also extols drawing over the other arts and refers to the great Florentine masters of the past, such as Cennino Cennini and Ghiberti beyond Michelangelo. "In the six dialogues of the Disegno the respective merits of painting and sculpture are discussed by personifications of art and nature and by the painters Paolo Pino and the sculptors Silvio Cosini and Baccio Bandinelli. Doni defines disegno as a form of cogitation of divine origin. The superiority of an art over another is dependent on the means available to reproduce the image the artist has conceived. To this end the speakers in the dialogue set forth the technical refinement of their profession. Thus, despite the arguable value of the conclusions pronounced in favor of sculpture, the Disegno is one of the most valuable documents on workshop practice in the XVI century." (The dictionary of art). Doni praises highly Michelangelo, as he did in the 1547 tract. The book is also valuable because it contains letter directed by Doni to important figures such as Francesco Sansovino, Enea Vico  and Pietro Aretino. In the letter to Vico Doni discusses his own print collection, mentioning his possession of engravings by Martin Schongauer, Dürer, Lucas of Leyden and several contemporary Italian artists.

& STC Italian, p. 225; C. Ricottini Marsili-Libelli (Anton Francesco Doni. Scrittore e stampatore. Bibliografia delle opere e della critica e annali tipografici, Florence 1960) no. 19; T. Besterman (Old art books, London 1975), page 31; Cicognara 114; The dictionary of art (Grove, London) IX, pages 161-162; DBI XLI, pages 158-167.

24 - (Bibliography, Sweden) Johann ERICHSON Bibliotheca Runica worin zuverlässige Nachrichten von den Schrifstellen über die Runische Litteratur und von den dahin gehörigen Buchstaben, Grabsteinen, Calendern, Handschriften und Münzen ertheiler werden. Grefswald, in Anton Ferdinand Rösens Buchhandlung, 1766. (Herausgegeben von J.C. Dähnert).

€ 700

Only edition of the first bibliography on early runic literature. Johann Erichson, an evangelical theologian, was born in Sternberg (Mecklenburg-Schwerin) in 1700 and died in Starkow (Mecklenburg-Schwerin) in 1779. Nothing is known about his youth. He was Co-rector and later rector in the Lyceum der deutschen Nation in Stockholm, between 1741 and 1745, then he moved to Starkow (Wolfes). About Dähnert De Feller states: "... professeur de philosophie et de droit à l'universitè de Greisfswald, né à Stralsund, en 1719, mort le 5 juillet 1785, publia de 1743 à 1784, en latin et allemand, un grand nombre d'ouvrages sur l'histoire, la jurisprudence, et la philologie des language du nord. ... Il fut aussi l'editeur de la "Bibliotheca runica"de Jean Erichson, Upsal, 1766, ...".

& Besterman col. 5477; Petzholdt p. 703; Matthias Wolfes (in: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon, Verlag Traugott Bautz, 1999) XVI, 461-462; Diederich Hermann Biederstedt (cited by Wolfes) (Nachrichten von dem Leben und den Schriften neuvorpomerisch-rügenscher Gelehrten seit dem Anfange des achtzehenten Jahrhundertes bis zum Jahre 1822, Greifswald 1824); De Feller (for Dähnert) VI, 360-361.

25 - (Technology, Low Contries) Friedrich A. A. Eversmann Technologische Bemerkungen auf eine Reise nach Holland. Freyberg und Annaberg, im Verlage der Crazischen Buchhandlung, 1792.

€ 1400

Only edition of the first book by Eversmann. An edition of 1797 as mentioned by Poggendorff has not been located. Friedrich August Alexander Eversmann (Barchwitz bei Halle 1759 – Berlin 1837) studied chemistry in Berlin with Klaproth and Achard. He became a superintendent of mines in Silesia and subsequently director of a factory in Prussia; afterwards he took up the position of general inspector of manufactures in the Napoleonic Grand Duchy of Berg. After the fall of Napoleon he entered Russian service until 1825 and spent his last years in Berlin. Eversmann traveled in Westfalia in 1780 together with the Prussian minister of Mines, Friedrich Anton von Heynitz, to whom this book is dedicated. The visits of Eversmann took him to the large Dutch cities, where he had leisure to examine the local productions. Holland was then at the nadir in regard to its golden century, but was still a rather industrialized country for XVIII century standards. Eversmann studied the metallurgical productions of Amsterdam, including foundry and gun manufacturing, the chemical productions, among which production of camphor, dyes, aromatic oils and salt. He paid attention also to other manufactures, as brick and tile production in Amsterdam, pipe production in Gouda and different types of activities based on mill-produced power, included sawmills, oil mills and drying mills. A large section is dedicated to what have passed to history as typical Dutch manufactures as embroidery and diamond polishing, this last illustrated by an appropriate plate, and to visits to different cabinets of curiosities, including the famous one in Haarlem, which is today the impressive Teyler’s Museum.

& Poggendorff I, 706; Engelmann (Bibliotheca mechanico-technologica) page 93; not in Duveen, Ferguson, Cole and Kress.

26 - (Mechanics) (Jean-Antoine) FABRE Essai sur la maniere la plus avantageuse de construire les machines hydrauliques et in particulier les moulins a bled. Paris, chez Alex Jombert Jeune, 1783.

€ 2700

Second edition. Jean-Antoine Fabre (1749-1837) "ancien ingénieur hydraulique de Provence, correspondant de l'Académie des sciences de Paris, de celle de Turin e de Stockholm, de la Société de physique de Zurich et des Académie de Florence, Upsal, Boston, Marseille, Dijon, Rouen, Aix et Toulon." (Quérard). "A correspondant of the Académie des Sciences in Paris, in addition to the present work, Fabre produced two books on irrigation (both 1791). He was also responsible for a theory of torrents and river and one on the theory of surveying." (Roberts & Trent). "Nous conseillerons aux lecteurs qui voudrons acquérir des connoissances étendues sur cet important sujet, de consulter le savant ouvrage de M. Fabre ... " (Borgnis).

& G. A. Borgnis (Traité complet de mécanique appliquè aux arts. V Des machines d'agriculture. Paris 1819) p. 183 and passim; Quérard (La France Litteraire) p. 53 (edition 1782); F. I. Fournier (Nouveau dictionnaire portatif de bibliographie. Paris, 1809) p. 103; Roberts & Trent p. 110; Musset - Pathay n. 610.

27 - (Architecture) (Jean-François) FELIBIEN DES AVAUX Description de La Nouvelle Eglise De L'Hostel Royal Des Invalides. Avec Un Plan Général de L'ancienne & de La Nouvelle Église. Paris, Jacque Quillau, 1706.

€ 1300

First edition. Jean François Felibien was the son of the great art historian, André Felibien.

& Cicognara 4287: "operetta benissimo stampata con molte diligenti tavole in fine"; Avery p. 327.

28 - (Architecture, Fortification) Girolamo FONDA Elementi di architettura civile, e militare ad uso del Collegio Nazareno, esposti da Girolamo Fonda delle scuole Pie nel detto collegio profesore di filosofia e matematica. Divisi in due parti Parte prima dell'architettura civile. Parte seconda dell'architettura militare. Roma, Nella Stamperia Mainardi, 1764.

€ 2500

First edition. The Venetian Father Hieronymo Maria Fonda, of the order of S. Apollonio (according to the imprimatur) was teacher of philosophy and mathematics in the Collegio Nazareno in Rome and teacher of physics in the University "La Sapienza"in Rome. "Girolamo Fonda, Veneto dell'Ordine delle scule Pie. Essendo Lettore di Filosofia, e di Matematica nel Collegio Nazareno, diè in luce gli Elementi di Architettura Civile, e Militare. Quest'opera, sebbene composta da un mero Teoretico; pure fu ben'accolta da quelli, che l'una, e l'altra Architettura esercitavano in pratica" (Renazzi). This work was written as a textbook for the school where the author was teaching; "Architectural textbooks, most of them of a Vitruvian-cum-Classical character, were very common in eighteenth century Italy. They were often adapted to regional requirements or to the teaching programmes of religious school. Thus in 1764 Girolamo Fonda published a textbook of civil and military architecture, set out in paragraphs, that was intended for the use of the 'Collegio Nazareno' in Rome" (Kruft).

& Cicognara n. 403; Comolli IV, pp. 19-22, and p. 88-89; Manzi n. 169 and 170; Marini p. 294; Riccardi I, pag. 465; Jordan n. 1223; D'Ayala p. 99; Rumpf n. 5094; Guarnieri p. 49; Hanno-Walter Kruft (A history of Architectural Theory from Vitruvius to the present. Princeton Architectural Press, 1994) p 195; Filippo Maria Renazzi (Storia dell' Università degli studj di Roma, detta comunemente la Sapienza, che contiene anche un saggio storico della letteratura romana, dal principio del secolo xiii sino al declinare del secolo xviii, Roma 1806) p. 268; Andrea Memmo (Elementi dell' architettura Lodoliana, o sia, L'arte del fabbricare con solidità scientifica e con eleganza. Zara, fratelli Battara e Milano, società editrice dei classici italiani d'architettura, 1834) p. 11.

29 - (Physics) Simon FOUCHER Traité des Hygromètres ou Machines pour mesurer la secheresse et l'humidité de l'Air. Paris, Etienne Michallet, 1686.

€ 1800

Only edition, preceded by a much shorter “Nouvelle façon d’hygromètres” appeared in 1672 and reprinted here as the first chapter. Simon Foucher (Dijon 1644 – Paris 1696) was one of the foremost critics of Cartesian philosophy. Educated at the Sorbonne, he spent his adult life as a chaplain in Paris. Simon Foucher is important in the history of modern philosophy as a skeptic who originated epistemological criticisms that are fatal to the Cartesian way of ideas. Leibniz considered him a valued critic. His arguments against the distinction between ideas and sensations were utilized to destroy the Lockean distinction between primary and secondary qualities by Bayle, Berkeley and Hume. His work on the improvement of the hygrometers seems to be somewhat eccentric to the bulk of his activity, which was essentially philosophic. “From the time of the Accademia del Cimento (1666) the study of the atmosphere was completed by hygrometric measurements ... Almost all systems made use of the hygroscopic properties of vegetable or animal fibres such as hemp, oats, leather, or strips of wood. These materials were held by a weight or a spring in such a way as to displace an index in front of an arbitrary scale as they expanded or contracted. This gave the inventive spirit of the experimenters free play and … among them we find an application of the dial and the pointer. The hygroscopic fiber was arranged so that its expansion or contraction caused an axis, around which it was partially wound, to pivot. By this means a pointer was caused to move over a graduated dial in the form of a circle or the arc of a circle. The index returned to zero through the action of a counterpoise. To extend or to regularize the movements of the index some constructors used a series of gears. Foucher recommended the use of a double watch fusee combined by the action of a barrel held by a spring.” (Daumas).  Beyond the reprint of his first work Foucher includes letters he directed to prominent members of the Académie des Sciences, among whom Mariotte. In these letters Foucher discusses and reproduces different types of hygrometers, their use to predict weather, their embellishment, their upkeep and the nature of dryness and heat. The final chapter is dedicated to the study of hygroscopic properties of different salts and seems to have escaped the attention of the chemical bibliographers.

& Poggendorff I, 781-782; Daumas page 60; Macclesfield 809; not in Honeyman.

30 - (Chemistry) Fourcroy et al. Programmes des cours révolutionnaires sur la fabrication des Salpêtres, des Poudres, et des Canons. Faits à Paris, par ordre du Comité de Salut public, dans l’amphithêatre du Musèum d’histoire naturelle, et dans la salle des Électeurs, maison du ci-devant Èvêchè, le 1, 11 et 21 Ventôse, deuxième année de la République Française une et indivisible; par les citoyens Guyton, Fourcroy, Dufourny, Bertholet, Carny, Pluvinet, Monge, Hassenfratz et Perrier. (No place, no date but Paris, 1794).

€ 1200

First edition of these lessons, printed for the students of the courses. This series of lessons, held in 1794 in Paris, represent the very beginning of the Écoles Polytechniques. "Prieur de la Côte-d'Or, le jeune collegue de Carnot au Comité, qui y dirigeait la "section des armes et poudres", avait organisé des "cours revolutionnaires sur la fabrication des salpêtres, des poudres et des canons" avec le concours des chimistes et des savants qui gravitaient alors autour du Comité. En une dizaine des leçons, on avait donné aux auditeurs - venus de toute la France - quelques notions de base, pour qu'ils puissent ensuite encadrer les atelier d'armement. L'enthousiasme révolutionnaire devait accompagner, soutenir cet enseignement: "Mort aux Tyrans" proclama en gros titre la première page du cours imprimé qu'on distribua et à la fin du cours, le 30 ventôse (20 mars 1794), les futurs poudriers font une grande fête patriotique ..." (Langins, preface, pp. 6-7). These courses were not introductory to a higher level of study: the pupils were supposed to go immediately home to supervise, thanks to the acquired knowledge, the local production of weapons. The word revolutionnaires at that time had mainly the meaning of "quickened" in order to obtain the results desired as soon as possible. Later in the same year, (21st December 1794) the École centrale des travaux publics (later École Polytechnique) was opened, with the purpose to give to the students, in three years time, a higher education. Fourcroy, among the founders of the newly created school, prised the method revolutionnaire and suggested its application. In fact, a preliminary course of three months was held, at the end of which the pupils were divided in three different levels, the highest bringing to graduation at the end of the very first year. Teachers in both the first attempt of the spring 1794 and the following École were scientists such as Monge, Berthollet, Guyton and Fourcroy.

& J. Langines (La Republique avait besoin de savants. Les début de l'École Polytechnique: l' École centrale des travaux publique et les cours revolutionnaire de l'an III, Paris 1987); A. Fourcy (Histoire de l'Ecole Polytechnique. ed. Dhombres, Berlin 1987); Alan Lindsay Mackay (A Dictionary of Scientific Quotations CRC Press, 1991 n. 47, pp. 93-94): "Antoine François de Fourcroy 1755 - 1809 ... 14 lectures each of 2 to 4 pages, 1794"; D. Julia (Les trois couleurs du tableau noir: la Revolution, Paris 1981); T. Shinn (Savoir scientifique et pouvoir social: l'Ecole Polytechnique, 1794-1914, Paris 1980): La Fête du salpêtre à Paris (http://www.lereseauhei.com/journal/breve7.htm); Bibliografia della rivoluzione francese (http://www.1789-1799.org/livres_revfr.htm)