1873.]. Set of ten large, thick card tablets, 480 x 320 x 5mm; each with mounted printed sheet, with engraved vignette either at head or centrally, sheets all a little browned with some staining, soiling and scuffing or creasing in places, plain blue paper on verso, boards 1- 7 with the original green mottled paper edging (somewhat chipped and worn), boards 8 & 9 with later green cloth edging, and final board with no edging remaining and exposing the inner board; though extremities all somewhat rubbed, worn and a little dog-eared, otherwise a striking and rare survivor of an ephemeral teaching aid. A wonderfully striking and extremely scarce set of this didactic French ‘ABC’. The ‘Cours Désir’ was a private quasi-religious Catholic educational establishment set up by the Adeline Désir (1819-1875) in 1853. In particular it welcomed girls from the Parisian upper middle class, and its specific aim was to produce ‘cultured women’, with a focus upon religious education, and the arts, although Désir did place importance upon the role of science in the education of young women. The school took in full-and half boards, as well as some day pupils, from primary stage through to the baccalaureate, and also included a school for the training of women teachers. As the famous alumnus, Simone de Beauvoir, recounted in her ‘Memoirs of a Young Girl’, the school took care to distinguish itself from similar secular establishments, with the young girls enlisted into a ‘Eucharistic crusade’ as soon as they arrived. The number of hours of teaching a week did not exceed 12, and annual retreats were an important part of the school calendar. Students of the school were instantly recognisable by the manner of their bow: ‘un coup de pied droit en arrière avec un léger fléchissement de la jambe gauche’.
The series of ten printed teaching aids, introduce the young child to the basic principles of the ‘Abécdaire français’, through a series of engraved images with accompanying moralistic printed text or verse, starting with the nativity, the farm, ‘Creator God’, a nest, the tale of the ‘Good little Marie’, ‘the two Ceciles’, the good brother, and the Innocent Saints, together with the remaining two boards giving an overview of the linguistic principles so far introduced.

1850. Folio, bound manuscript in a single calligraphic hand in a variety of colours; pp. [iv] half-title with calligraphic flourish and title-page penned in landscape and elaborately hand-coloured, 1-190, 191 part title ‘Actes Divers’ elaborately and colourfully penned in landscape, 192 blank, 193-252, 253 part title ‘Procès verbaux’ elaborately and colourfully penned in landscape, 254 blank, 255-290, 291 part title ‘Actes Civils’ elaborately and colourfully penned in landscape, 292-323, 324 blank, [4] blank; with a number of small neat line illustrations and diagrams; text in a single hand predominantly in brown ink, ornately embellished with colourful calligraphic headlines and flourishes in light green, golden yellow, various shades of blue, pink, red, orange, purple and brown; some light marginal browning and foxing throughout, with some ink bleed through due to liberal application, half title slightly creased; retaining remains of original pink silk page marker; in contemporary calf backed green marbled boards, spine lightly scuffed and rubbed, covers a little scratched, extremities lightly rubbed; a most attractive example. A most attractively executed calligraphy exercise book, the work of Eugène Chênè (born we are told in Campeaux in 1836), and a student of M. Deschamps, a teacher in Campeaux, the French commune located in the department of Calvados. The striking title-page sets the tone, Eugène elegantly and colourfully penning the title in landscape, and employing a number of calligraphic styles for the lettering. We believe his instructor to be a M. Pierre Deschamps, who between 1846-1865 taught in five towns in Calvados, though according to the biographical record for his son Leon (1849-1927), was forced to leave his post in Champeaux in 1850 having fallen foul of the Catholic authorities in the area.
This extensive manuscript is divided into various sections dealing in turn with the general principles of arithmetic (covering addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, fractions, simple and compound interest etc); geometry, a section highlighting miscellaneous legal documents (receipts, leases etc); a section of templates or ‘procés verbal’ on filing minutes or reports; and concluding with a section on civil acts (registering births, marriages, deaths etc). It would appear that Pierre Deschamps was also acting as an agent for an insurance company, and this may explain his focus upon legal and business matters. From the subject matter of some of the sample templates included, one would imagine that the 14 year old Chênè was being prepared for a legal apprenticeship perhaps, some of the ‘procés verbal’ dealing with how to record the statement of an individual caught ‘en flagrant de lit’, a statement recording a disgrace, and how to report an accident involving a carrier. A most appealing and striking example.

1851. Large Folio, 450 x 295mm, bound manuscript in a single calligraphic hand in a variety of colours, ff. 158; with watercolour illustration mounted on front paste-down (presumably a self portrait of Joly in local Saintongeois costume), with numerous section headings stencilled in black and block lettering (a number misspelt and with corrections), the first leaf heading surrounded by ornate garland in green, brown and ochre, with the copious calculations throughout embellished with underlining in green, brown or ochre; with neat pen illustrations depicting a number of instruments on ff. 113; lightly foxed and soiled throughout, with a few ink smudges, one or two minor marginal nicks and losses but nothing significant, very small square excised at tail of final leaf, presumably a correction?; seemingly self-bound and stitched in contemporary paste-paper card wrappers, with title in manuscript on upper cover, evidence of previous tear on upper cover neatly repaired, some small loss along spine at stitching points, covers a little soiled with dampstaining at head of rear cover; overall a little dog-eared, but nevertheless charming for its unsophistication. A charming, unsophisticated, and one of the most substantial manuscript exercise books we have handled, and the work of the young student Théophile Joly, from Lonzac, a commune of Haute Saintonge in the Southwestern department of Charente-Maritime.
Joly’s notebook is an appealing example of a cyphering book, i.e. a manuscript written either by a student or teacher and with a particular focus upon mathematical content. Printed books were rarely used, and teachers would compile manuscript sum books to be used as teaching aids, and from which the students copied, often embellished with calligraphic headings and flourishes, ink and wash sketches and diagrams, etc. The content often followed a prescribed pattern, containing rules, cases, problems, and solutions to exercises associated with a well-defined progression of mathematical (usually arithmetic) topics.
The present example very much follows this traditional format, though Joly refrains from overly embellishing his course-work - perhaps being of a less artistic temperament, or perhaps reflecting a more rigourous approach to learning instilled by his tutor. His headings are seemingly stencilled in black block lettering - several of which have been misspelt and which have then been corrected. Clearly worked quite hard, the volume contains very few introductions to the arithmetical processes under discussion, but instead is focused almost entirely upon the problems to be solved together with the calculations. Few illustrations are included, although one or two small diagrams are to be found, but a full page illustrations depicting ‘les instruments de la géometrie’ is found on ff. 113. Perhaps compiled in preparation for a trade or mercantile apprenticeship, the arithmetic processes and examples are derived from, or relate to, various professions, including banking, land surveying, brewing, notaries, and as such throws a fascinating light upon contemporary educational priorities of the time.
Joly has clearly given way to a few moments of light-relief however. An appealing water-colour depiction of a young man in local costume has been pasted onto the inside front cover - and which may well be a self-portrait. Furthermore, in a moment of boredom perhaps, at the tail of ff. 22 we find what appear to be five ‘brass rubbings’ depicting the faces of a 2 and 5 franc coin, and which are dated 1838 and 1839. He frequently signs his name throughout the work as well. Seemingly also self-bound, though perhaps a less sophisticated example than some previously handled, Joly’s notebook is in many ways all the more charming for this ‘home-made’ feel!

1680-1682-1682-1685-1685. Five parts in four volumes, 4to; I. pp. [xvi] including initial blank, 270, 271-332, [10], with engraved frontispiece and 8 engraved plates (of which three folding, plate VI misbound at p. 252 rather than p. 152, and plate VIII misnumbered as VII); II. pp. [ii] blank, [vi], 264; with engraved frontispiece (the same as in vol. I) and 3 engraved plates; III. pp. 153 [ie 155], [11] index, [1] blank, with 3 engraved plates; IV. pp. [ii] half title for parts IV and V, [viii], 368, with engraved frontispiece (same as in previous volumess) and 3 engraved plates, (of which 2 folding); V. pp. [ii], 104, 145-160, 121-252, [4], with 1 engraved plate, and with tipped in contemporary handwritten note at p. 54, and with frequent mispaginations; volumes IV and V with shared half-title; with appealing woodcut title-page vignettes and head- and tail-pieces; all five volumes somewhat browned and foxed, with some occasional staining, usually from ink blotting; all five volumes with contemporary marginal annotations in brown ink, more frequent in the final two volumes, and with further ink notes listing items of interest on either rear endpaper, or rear paste-down of each volume; bound in contemporary vellum, titles in neat manuscript on spines, front inner hinges of Vols I and IV neatly repaired, covers a little soiled and stained, evidence of previous paper labels, extremities lightly bumped and worn; overall a good copy. First Latin edition, all published, and which despite its somewhat astrological sounding title, is an important and early medical periodical, and the brain-child of the controversial and colourful French physician Nicolas de Blégny (1652-1722), here anonymously translated and then continued into Latin by Théophile Bonet.
It was begun in the previous year, in 1679, originally published as ‘Nouvelles découvertes sur toutes les parties de la médecine’. Though preceded by scientific journals such as the Transactions of the Royal Society, and Bartholin’s Acta medica et philosophica Hafniensia (1673-1680), Blegny’s contribution is considered to be the first dedicated medical periodical in the vernacular, aimed at, and therefore more accessible to, a wider readership than just traditional academic circles. ‘Its popularity is evidenced by its translation into German as Monatliche neueröffnet Anmerckungen (Hamburg, 1680). It was translated into Latin, and continued by Théophile Bonet as Zodiacus medico-gallicus (Geneva, 1680-1685)’ (Garrison, History of Medicine, p 281). Issued monthly, of the first French issue in January 1679 Blegny states in the preface that it was ‘his intention to bring together all those discoveries, experiences, and comments that may be found useful in the art of medicine. In order that he may continue to do so, he urges all physicians, surgeons, and apothecaries, both Galenic and chemical, those residing abroad as well as those in France, to send him their discoveries... Each issue, he says, will be sold for five sols, which, he adds, is just sufficient to reimburse him for the expenses entailed in publication’ (ibid p. 5).
The present Latin translation includes a striking frontispiece representing Apollo, the patron of medicine, surrounded by the signs of the zodiac, with a simple but appealing scene of the city of Geneva seen below. With a ‘chapter’ as it were for each month of each year, the periodical provides a wealth of material, including accounts of recent medical activities, unusual and notable surgical and clinical case histories, notes on therapeutics and materia medica, discussions on practices such as bloodletting, autopsy reports, together with reports of incredible abnormalities and curiosities. Contributors for the various articles are named, with a number seemingly by Blegny himself, who also comments upon the work of his contributors, much as a modern editor would do. ‘Thus we have cases of vicarious menstruation, petrification of the semen, a wound of the heart, a hanged person restored to life, extraction of a urethral calculus followed by blindness... a hydatidiform mole, monstrous births... and transposition of the viscera. Besides these, however, there are lengthy disquisition's on topics of current interest, such as fevers and febrigures, on the nature of the teeth, their diseases and appropriate remedies, the generation of man, the use of quinquina in fevers, the letting of blood... on various aspects of physics... [and] one or two articles of an astrological nature’ (Nicholls, p. 201).
The French version had a somewhat checkered career, and ran until 1683, though under variant titles of ‘Le temple d’Esculape (1680), and ‘Journal des Nouvelles Descouvertes (1681-1683). At that point the Faculty of Medicine finally withdrew his privilege, Blegny having constantly challenged their authority and that of the traditional medical communities, and having himself been accused of all kinds of nefarious activities. Undeterred, Blegny transferred editorship to a Dr Gautier in Amsterdam, publication resuming in 1684 under the title Mercure Savant. A rival in Paris, Abbé de la Roque, took up the mantle of a Parisian periodical, and in 1681 began his own Journal de Savants, which itself ran to 1685.
Whilst the whole publication may have had a somewhat stormy and ultimately short-lived path, Blegny was nevertheless something of a pioneer in medical journalism, through his attempts to make medical information more widely and socially available.
We are pleased to offer in addition a small 12mo volume containing the first three months of the original 1679 edition Nouvelles découvertes sur toutes les parties de la médecine, which is bound with the January to April issues of the 1680 Le temple d’Esculape – a testament to the original format of publication in individual monthly parts to be purchased separately.

1909-1910. Four volumes, folio; I. pp. [x], 74, [1], with 8 text figures, and 10 heliogravures each with printed tissue sheet (nos. 1-10); II. pp. [x], 98, [1], [1] tipped in slip, with 101 text figures, 19 heliogravures with printed tissue sheets (nos. 11-29), two folding plates and 8 lithographs; III. pp. [xiv], 109, [3], [ii] half title, 24 of printed music, [1] tipped in slip, with 51 text figures, and four heliogravures with printed tissue sheets (nos. 33-33); IV. pp. [xiv], [ii] ‘Bihang’, [31], [1] blank, with 78 plates of mounted half-tones (nos. 34-108); aside from some very occasional minor foxing or soiling, clean and crisp; a lovely wide-margined set, printed on fine laid paper, bound in tan half-goatskin over marbled boards, spines in compartments with raised bands, ruled and lettered in gilt and black, some minor wear, but otherwise a lovely copy. First edition of this luxuriously produced and exquisitely illustrated limited edition, one of only 200 copies (though unnumbered), celebrating the famous 17th century artistic curiosity cabinet created by the Augsburg merchant, banker, diplomat and art collector Philip Hainhofer (1578-1647). One of a number of specially commission Kunstschränke formed during the Thirty Years War, it was purchased by the city, and handed over as a gift to King Gustav II Adolf of Sweden, when he marched into Augsburg on April 24th 1632. The magnificent cabinet of curiosities and art objects was moved to Sweden in 1633 and set up at Svartsjö Castle. The gift also included an attendant carpenter, to take care of the cabinet, and he remained with the collection until his death in 1651. At that time it was moved to Uppsala Castle, and was donated by King Charles XI to Uppsala University in 1694, and is now on display in a room in the Museum Gustavianum.
Hainhofer is considered to be one of the most important figures in the sphere of art and collecting in the first half of the 17th century, due to his diplomatic and political career, which enabled him to travel extensively through Italy, Germany and the Netherlands. Fluent in several languages, he conveyed political and cultural information, and even represented his patrons at princely ceremonies such as baptisms and marriages, as well as at political gatherings. Expanding his field of enterprise, he began to trade in art and luxury items, including books, acting as agent for a number of leading European princes. He began to develop his own personal Kunstkammer, which came to play a part in his commercial activities, curiosities being be exchanged or sold, between patrons. We have no inventory of his own collection, but his enthusiasm with cabinets of curiosities led him to visit several of the great princely collections of the age, and his own collection, according to Boström was also visited by many distinguished guests. ‘His truly original achievement lies in his pieces of multi-purpose furniture, especially his great Kunstschränke. These Mehrzweckmöbel, manufactured under his supervision by dozens of artists and craftsmen from various guilds, are, or were at least intended to be, miniature Kunstkammern... these cabinets were made to commission’ (Boström, in Impey, Origins of Museums, p. 92). ‘We are better informed about the Kunstschrank of Gustavus Adolphus. It was manufactured between 1625 and 1631, remaining in Hainhofer’s house until the Swedish king’s troops entered Augsburg in April 1632. The Lutheran councillors, who were reinstated by Gustavus Adolphus, wished to welcome the king with a magnificent gift, so the council bought the cabinet from Hainhofer for 6,500 thalers. The presentation took place in the Fugger palace, with Hainhofer demonstrating it for the king, whom he describes as ‘versed in all sciences and a master of all arts’. Hainhofer had played an important role as mediator between Catholics and Lutherans prior to the surrender of Augsburg... Hainhofer’s Kunstschränk give expression to the desire for an all-embracing documentation of the world and of human activities. In the Uppsala cabinet the animal, plant and mineral kingdoms are represented, the four continents known at that time and every historical period from antiquity up to Hainhofer’s own day. Instruments fulfilling the needs of practical everyday life, of work and study, stand alongside those supplying pastimes and aesthetic pleasure. As with the Kunstkammern, this quest for universality it modified by a focus on the rare, the peculiar, the precious and, in the case of artefacts, on objects characterized by artistic refinement, a high level of craftsmanship and the surmounting of technical difficulties’ (p. 95).
Other notable Hainhofer cabinets include that of the Duke Phillip II of Pomerenia, for whom he created the Pommerscher Kunstschränkt (Pomeranian curiosity cabinet), made in 1615-1617, and considered to be the finest and most famous of all the examples. Sadly it was destroyed in a fire during a Berlin bombing campaign at the end of WWII. Another Hainhofer cabinets, created for Augustus Duke of Brunswick-Luneberg is preserved in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, with a further example found in Florence.
John Böttiger (1853-1936) was a noted Swedish art historian, and Royal Court archivist and curator from 1892 to Oscar II. The present beautifully produced description of the history of the collection and its rich content, was one of a number of works published by Böttiger, to raise public awareness of, and interest in, art history and treasures, having published another magnificent four volume work between 1895-1989 giving a history and descriptive list of the Swedish State Collection of Woven Wallpapers.

1871. Small folio, pp. vi, [2], 28; with six partially hand-coloured lithograph plates; some foxing throughout, more prominent in early leaves, with some staining and foxing to plates; in contemporary red cloth backed grey boards, with paper printed label on upper cover, covers a little scuffed and soiled with quite prominent ink stain affecting top margin of upper cover, and smaller mark at the lower fore-edge, extremities and corners lightly bumped and worn; a good copy. Uncommon first edition of this finely illustrated anatomical treatise on the femoral vein, by the noted German anatomist Wilhelm Braune (1831–1892), published just a year before his groundbreaking and iconic ‘Topographische-anatomischer Atlas’ (1872), famous for its use of frozen sections.
Braune studied at the universities of Göttingen and Würzburg, and in 1872, became professor of topographical anatomy at the University of Leipzig. His works are renowned for his excellent use of lithography to depict the anatomy of the human body, of which this is a striking and early example. A second edition was published in 1873, together with a companion volume ‘Die Venen der menschlichen Hand’, and which are sometimes found together. These preliminary works and studies eventually culminated in his publication of ‘Das venensystem des menschlichen körpers’ (1884-1889), and which GM remarks was also ‘notable for its excellent illustrations’.

1754.]. 8vo, pp. [ii], 5-138, with engraved title-page vignette; pp. 7, [1]; aside from some light spotting and foxing, clean and bright; abridgement loosely inserted, with some dust-soiling and light wear along fore-edge; in later stiff marbled wrappers, spine somewhat nicked and worn with small loss at head and approximately 2cm loss at tail, covers slightly creased with some light surface wear and minor staining. Separate edition, issued with a general title the year after it had received Royal Assent, of the act which saw the inception of the British Museum, the ‘Act for the purchase of the Museum, or collection of Sir Hans Sloane, and of the Harleian collection of manuscripts; and for providing one general repository for the better reception and more convenient use of the said collections; and of the Cottonian Library, and of the additions thereto’ (p. 5 and known formerly as Public General Act 1753 26. Geo. II. c.22).
Sir Hans Sloane died on January 11th 1753, aged 83, leaving behind a magnificent collection consisting of around 71000 objects, including 50,000 printed books and manuscripts, natural history specimens including 337 volumes of dried plants, coins and medals, prints and drawings, and antiquities, acquired from around the globe. Like many of the great collections and cabinets of curiosities of the time, Sloane had used developing global networks created by European imperial expansion to collect these materials, some of his income partly derived from Jamaican sugar plantations and enslaved labour. His will had placed the collection in the care of several trustees who were entrusted to ensure that his wishes that it be bequeathed to the nation were achieved. They were instructed to approach king or parliament with an offer for the collection in return for the payment of £20,000 - not the full value of the collection which was nearer 80,000 - to be paid to his executors for his daughters. Further, it was his wish that they secure an act of Parliament to vest the collection in their care, with all necessary property, powers, and money to ensure its preservation and accessibility by creating a new and freely accessible public museum to house it. So confident was Sloane over the collection’s scientific and educational value, that should this offer be declined it was to be offered in turn to four academies - St. Petersburg, Paris, Berlin, and Madrid - where Sloane held honorary memberships. Should this fail, the collection was not to revert to the daughters, but rather was to be sold at auction, with his heirs receiving the cash.
As chair of the executors, the Earl of Macclesfield presented a petition to King George II to purchase the legacy, but being famously uninterested in championing either the arts or sciences, he dismissed it as being too expensive. This rebuff led the executors to approached parliament, and whilst some did not fully embrace the idea of purchasing a museum, others, notably Henry Pelham, recognised that such a valuable bequest should not slip through its hands. After deliberation, parliament took the opportunity to combine Sloane’s museum with the great Cottonian and Harleian libraries, to create a larger institution than originally envisaged. The Act set in place the rules of governance for the museum, with a new body of forty-two Trustees appointed, and which included holders from some of the greatest offices in church and state. The Act was passed and given Royal Assent on June 7th 1753, the collections thus becoming the foundation not only of the British Museum, but subsequently of the Natural History Museum and the British Library.
The King having refused to pay the £20,000, the Act provided for the establishment of a national lottery to raise £300,000 to build the museum. It proved to be a scandalously run affair, with virtually all of the tickets sold before they were put on offer to the public. The market was covered especially by a rich financier, Sampson Gideon, and also by one of the four receivers of the lottery money, Peter Leherpe. They managed to sell the tickets in large chunks before the lottery opened. The Act had specified that no one person should have more than 20 tickets. Leherpe, however, allowed people to submit a list of fictitious names so that they could buy many more. After two days, the British Museum lottery tickets were said to be selling for a premium of 16 shillings, with various financiers reselling them at a profit. Gideon himself had more than 5,000 tickets. When he died he left an estate worth more than half a million pounds, and during his lifetime was so rich that he bankrolled the Government. The identity of the eventual lottery winner is not known, but the winning ticket number was 46885. The British Museum, after the payment of expenses, received £95,194 8s 2d, some of which went towards buying Montague House, the house on the present site into which the various collections were sent. It was eventually opened as a museum on January 15th 1759.

1782. 8vo, pp. xii, 294, [ii] errata; pp. 47 and 235 are cancels; with appealing woodcut head- and tail-pieces; some light foxing and soiling throughout, but otherwise clean and crisp; in later full marbled calf, spine in compartments with raised bands, tooled in gilt with red morocco label lettered in gilt, all edges red, head and tail of spine, joints, and extremities very lightly rubbed, one corner a little worn; with later 20th century gift inscription on front free endpaper; an appealing copy. First edition of this manual of obstetrics for midwives, written by Michel Chevreul (1745-1845), father of the chemist and founder of colour theory, Michel Eugène Chevreul (1786-1889). A noted surgeon and obstetrician, Chevreul helped to establish obstetrical schools in Anjou and Touraine, and was director of the medical school at Angers, where the present edition was published.
One of the ever growing number of 'man-midwife', or accoucheurs that emerged during the eighteenth century, Chevreul hoped that his simple and accessible book on the art of midwifery would help in some way to curb the ignorant and indeed pernicious practices found amongst poorly educated rural sages-femmes. Written shortly after the foundation of various provincial teaching establishments, notably in the province of Tours, he strongly advocates the benefits of improved education, to prevent unnecessary suffering. This simple work is divided into five sections, Chevreul having deliberately avoided the use of over complicated physiological or anatomical descriptions. The first section provides a basic introduction to the female anatomy, whilst explaining ways to assess the various stages of pregnancy, and containing a description of the foetus, the placenta, and the umbilical cord. Chevreul identifies four main types of childbirth, "le prématuré, en naturel, en laborieux, et en contre nature". Section two discusses natural childbirth, and how to distinguish between true and false labour pains. Difficult labours and presentations are discussed in the third section, i.e. those which present a danger to the mother or child due to internal complications and which might require some form of intervention, possibly by the use of instrument. More complicated deliveries, such as breach-birth are covered in section four, with the final section outlining abortions, premature births, false pregnancies and extra-uterine pregnancies.
A second edition of the present work, Chevreul’s only book publication, was published in 1826. An attractive and scarce manual.

1825. Small folio; pp. [ii] original printed green paper wrapper to first fascicle bound in as general title, [64] of biographical text; with 32 lithograph portraits; somewhat foxed throughout, with the text leaves for Linné, Aldrovani, Celsus, Sydenham and Bartez rather browned, and those for Chaussier and Haller at the end of the work heavily browned; in black morocco backed pebble boards, spine in compartments with raised bands, ruled and lettered in gilt, with marbled endpapers, inner hinge cracked but holding firm, spine somewhat faded and lightly rubbed, extremities more prominently bumped and worn; with small library stamp on verso of final leaf ‘Don du Docteur Ch, Leroux, Hopital Civil de Versailles’. Rare. A complete set bound together of this most striking lithograph ‘gallery’ of some of the most notable figures in medical history.
The inspiration of the physician Guillaume Tell Doin (1794-1845), the lithographer Pierre Roche Vigneron (1789-1872), and the publisher G. Engelmann (1788-1839), according to a contemporary review in the ‘Archives générales de médecine; Journal publié par une société de médecins’ (Tome IX, p. 312, Sept 1825), the original intention was to produce one hundred portraits, the whole publication issued in a series of monthly fascicles containing four portraits together with accompanying biographical text. Normal copies on plain paper would cost 6fr, whilst more luxurious copies on China paper priced at 9fr. However, as later notices reveal, the plan was revised down to a proposed series of 10 fascicles - and indeed ultimately only eight were produced, with 32 fine lithograph portraits issued. No more were published, and being issued in individual fascicles, the plates more often than not, now appear individually. It is thus uncommon to find a bound copy of the complete series.
In the present copy beginning with Hippocrates, (the order of the copy found at Padova is different) Doin and Vigneron have concentrated upon Western luminaries both ancient and modern, and thus we find included Galen, Leonard Fuchs, Andreas Vesalius, William Harvey, Albrecht von Haller, Philippe Pinel, Herman Boerhaave, Paul Joseph Barthez, and Edward Jenner. From the wider sphere, portraits of Carl Linnaeus and Nicolas Copernicus are also included, with the medieval Islamic polymath Averroes chosen as the sole representative from the Arabic world.

1692. Folio (400 x 260 mm), pp [ii] engraved sectional title, [viii], 183, [1] blank, [ii] engraved section title, 185-224, [8] index; with engraved portrait of du Molinet, engraved vignette with coat-of-arms on title, engraved head-pieces and initials on p. 6 and p. 185, and engraved tail-pieces on p. 152, with 45 engraved plates of which 5 are double-page, and numerous engraved and woodcut head- and tail-pieces and initials; some browning and foxing throughout, with some staining affecting the upper inner gutter throughout much of the work, and quite prominent in places causing paper burn; the whole work with extensive worming, affecting inner gutters, and upper and lower margins of both text and plates (though never touching images), with copious neat paper repairs (too many to list separately) though notably lower corners between pp. 99-113, repairs and worm-trails between pp. 141-180, and in upper gutter between pp. 182-206, some plates somewhat browned, and with a few marginal tears, and the remains of one or two insects still visible; some of the plates with old manuscript numbering and which have been cropped in places at some point; in recent full vellum bound by Bernard Middleton, all edges yellow, spine lettered in gilt, covers a little stained and soiled. First edition. Important and beautifully illustrated catalogue of the famous 17th century wunderkammer, established and curated by Father Claude Du Molinet (1620-1687), and which formed an annexe to the library of the abbey of Sainte-Geneviève, Paris, established by Cardinal Rochefoucauld in 1642. Although a small part of the original collection remains today, much of it was dismantled and dispersed during the French Revolution, and thus the present catalogue serves as the only record of the museum's cabinet of coins, medals, gems and natural history specimens. Du Molinet had first started to amass the collection in the 1660s, before officially installing the museum in 1675. Amongst the many fine engraved plates by Franz Ertinger (1640-ca. 1710), the first seven (including 5 double-page), show the actual interior decoration of the rooms in which the collection was housed, with the main room looking out towards Luxembourg gardens and the church of Saint-Sulpice.
According to the preface, Du Molinet had sought in particular to assemble rare and curious objects of interest to the sciences and history, both ancient and natural. ‘It was thus a teaching collection and an important addition to the library, through which one had to pass before reaching the cabinet of curiosities. The collection was only ten years in the making but received a tremendous boost with the acquisition of the greater part of Peiresc’s collection, which made it one of the most notable cabinets in France’ (Grinke, p. 28). The catalogue is divided into two parts - the first being devoted to antiquities: Christian, Egyptian and Roman; funerary objects; weights and measures; coins; medals; engraved gems; talismans and seals (including a section on Gnostic seals); and lamps. The second part is devoted to natural history objects, divided amongst birds; animals; fish; fruits; plants; shells; stones; and minerals. The cabinet included many oft found curiosities of the time, such as a unicorn horn, and a mermaid hand, Du Molinet relating the stories and legends that were associated with them, even if somewhat sceptical himself. ‘The arrangement of the collection itself is carefully described by du Molinet. Facing the entrance was an alcove with clothes and weapons from Persia, India and America and above this were ranged three tiers of urns, votive objects, lamps, sacrificial instruments and other antiquities. The alcove was flanked with two cupboards of petrifaction's, Indian birds, animals and a collection of footwear from various countries, and above these "buffets" were further shelves of figures, Chinese vases, branches of red, white and black coral and other marine growths. The other three sides of the room contained a dozen walnut cabinets housing the medal collection, with an explanatory book listing over four hundred pieces in the large bronze series. The collection included Greek and Hebrew silver coins, Papal medals and those of the French Kings and other European monarchs, as well as jetons, talismans and coins from China, Japan, India, Siam and elsewhere. Other cabinets contained scientific instruments, semiprecious stones and minerals, shells and rare animals and fishes. The walls were hung with paintings including a series of twenty-two pastel portraits of the Kings of France. Ertinger's excellent plates illustrate the room which housed the collection and also two large views of the interior of the library, with a view of Paris through the open window' (ibid).

1890-1900. Oval composite plaque made from brass and nickel?, 70 x 115 x 1 mm, with horizontal central moulding, both sides engraved; together with pp. [4] folded explanatory leaflet 212 x 135 mm, further folded down into four; paper a little browned; plaque slightly burnished; retained within the original printed card box, 120 x 80 x 7 mm, box a little foxed and soiled, with minor rubbing and wear to extremities; a very good example. A scarce medical curiosity - a French Vitalist-Mettalotherapeutic device from the turn of the century, made from brass and seemingly nickel, patented and made by the ‘Société Électrogénique’, established in the mid 1890s by Eugène Legras (1856-?) and Édouard Moron (1850-1909). Particularly appealing, the device is housed within the original card box, and retains the printed explanatory relief, which guarantees the user of its authenticity and not a counterfeit. Recommended for the treatment of all pain by application to sensitive areas, and by extension supposed to cure all internal diseases, the plaque, sold for 4 francs, and was designed to be attached to clothing, and in particular night-gowns, patients recommended to keep between 3 and 7 plates close to the skin during the night, the number depending on the severity of the ailment.
Different metals are known to generate small electric currents when brought together, and this was thought to confer healing properties when held against the skin. The French physician Victor Burq, in around 1849, discovered that placing various metals on the bodies of female patients being treated for hysteria, triggered various physiological, muscular and nervous reactions, and in a number of instances seemed to offer some kind of cure. Thus ‘mettalotherapy’ was born, and Burq’s work soon became quite influential and was adopted by many contemporaries. Innumerable electro- or magnetotherapeutic pendants and devices were developed by physicians, chemists, and businessmen at the time, often without much medical knowledge, and were widely marketed across both America and Europe at the end of the 19th century when electrotherapy hit its peak. We have previously held pendants patented by E. Osselin and Joseph Raspail.
In late 1881 Charles Pinel (1828-1895, son of Scipion, and brother of Philippe), founded the first l’Institut d’Electrothérapie together with a colleague, with the commercial aim of distributing metal plates for medical use, called ‘dynamodermic plates’, so called because of the reactions they caused during application to the skin. An exponent of vitalism, the company expanded rapidly, but Pinel died unexpectedly in 1895, at which point Eugène Legras and Édouard Moron, neither men physicians, became involved. Moron appears to have used a number of pseudonyms, including Doctor Édouard de Monplaisir (named after a district of Sainte-Radegonde where his parents lived), Doctor Sosthène Faber (used in particular at the Rochecorbon Sanitorum they established in 1901), E. de Salerno, and De la Palette. Legras, whose name appears at the end of the present instruction leaf, oversaw the financial side of the business, which seemingly was renamed the Dynamodermic Institute and later the Electrogenic Society. Clearly two entrepreneurial men, the business became very successful, thanks to prominent advertising in local, national and international newspapers, the creation of ‘Le Médecine Nouvelle’ Journal, and through a prestigious establishment in a Paris mansion at ‘19, rue de Lisbonne’, where as the instruction leaf reveals, free consultations were available from both ‘Dr. Péradon’, chief vitalist physician, who would also give correspondence consultations, as well as from the Director, ‘Dr. Dumas’. Personal consultations were given every day between 10am and 5pm. The sale of devices such as the present ‘plaque dynamodermique’ no doubt helped to pay for this free service. Demand was so strong that a production plant is established in Vernou-sur-Brenne, as noted on the present example. Priding itself on relieving and even curing a multitude of both nervous and physical diseases (including tuberculosis and cancer), the company prospered for more than 20 years, eventually opening their famous Rochecorbon Sanitorium in 1901, in Château de la Tour, on the outskirts of the town. Fortunes quickly changed however, and by 1905 the company had been declared bankrupt, although Legras and Moron, under the pseudonym of Doctor Sosthéne Faber, continued to run the Sanatorium until 1909, when Moron died. Despite attempts by Legras to keep the sanatorium going, it had closed by the start of WWI, when it was used as a military hospital.
Later examples of the ‘plaque dynamodermique’ were engraved ‘Rochecorbon’, and were used extensively as part of treatment plans.

[1838.]. 8vo, pp. [iv], 102; with four large folding lithograph plates; lightly foxed and browned throughout due to paper quality, with some further occasional minor soiling, minor ink staining on verso of first plate, with other three plates a little creased and with evidence of previous folds; bound in contemporary marbled boards, neatly rebacked and recornered in calf, spine ruled and lettered in ink, with some minor abrasions to surfaces; with presentation inscription from the author to Mr. Fildes at the tail of the dedication leaf; a good copy. Uncommon first edition of this detailed work, based very much on first hand experience, on the design and management of boilers, and the work of the Manchester engineer Robert Armstrong. The work bears testament, therefore, to the many technical and mechanical advances which emanated from the town, thanks to the rapid growth of the cotton industry which had transformed Manchester from being a small market town with a popular of 10,000 at the turn of the century, to becoming Britain’s second city by the 1840s, and home to nearly 400,000.
Indeed Armstrong dedicates his work to the ‘Cotton Manufacturers and other Proprietors of Steam engines, in Manchester and its vicinity, who have afforded him many opportunities of obtaining a variety of information on practical details’. This first edition is printed on rather cheap paper, the four large folding plates containing somewhat crude illustrations done reproduced from his original drawings in lithograph, a fact which Armstrong rather ruefully acknowledges in his concluding remarks, his publisher clearly having had little faith in its sale and suggesting only a limited initial print run ‘to meet a merely local sale’. Whilst he prides himself upon his boiler-making workmanship, his limited budget had not allowed him to use skilled engravers and printers, when it came to his bookmaking. An interesting commentary, perhaps, upon how lithography was considered to be a less skilled profession.
The poor design and management of boilers was frequently the Achilles heel of the steam engine, preventing their efficient and economic running. Armstrong focuses in particular upon boilers for mill engines, though there is a small section describing locomotive boilers. He deals with high and low pressure boilers, form and proportions, the capacity of the steam chamber and what happens when the boiler is too small, together with rules for alteration and improvement. There is advice on re-setting boilers in order to save fuel, methods of estimating power, the best form of fire-grate, boiler cleansing machinery and ways to get rid of scale and boiler balls, which clogged up pipes and flues, and on the cause and prevention of explosions. Various types of boiler, such as the Boulton and Watt boiler or Durham and Cornish boilers are referred to and some leading contemporary books, such as Tredgold and Pambour, are cited. A practical and thorough work.

1902. Two volumes, large 8vo; pp. 605, [1] blank, with with one double-page table t p. 178 and one plate at p. 330, together with 89 text engravings and graphs, some of which are full-age; pp. 666, [2] blank, with folding chromolithograph map, a heliogravure portrait (both retaining tissue guards), and with 306 text engravings, graphs and half-tone images, a number of which are full-page; volume one printed on different paper stock and a little more browned with some light foxing along upper edge, title-page of Vol. II lightly foxed, with some light soiling to both volumes, but otherwise clean and crisp; a lovely bright set in the original green fine grained publisher’s cloth, upper covers lettered in silver, head and tail of spines a little bumped and rubbed, with further light rubbing to joints and extremities, spine of Vol. I a little cockled, corners bumped, book-blocks very slightly shaken due to the weight and size. First edition of this extremely comprehensive and detailed illustrated account of the first ‘Congrès de la Houille Blanche’ held in Grenoble in 1902, organised by the ‘Syndicat des propriétaires et industriels possédant ou exploitant des forces motrices hydrauliques’, discussing the technical, economical and legal issues surrounding the development, concessions, rights of use, and potential of ‘white coal’ - the metaphorical term coined in 1889 by the entrepreneur and paper-maker Aristide Bergès (1833-1904) to describe the pure energy resource of mountain rivers and glaciers which could be harnessed to create renewable ‘clean’ hydroelectric power.
Though hydropower had long been used for grinding grain and flour, it was not until the late 19th century that it came to be used as an electricity source. In 1878 the world’s first hydroelectric power scheme was developed at Cragside in Northumberland by William Armstrong to power a a single arc lamp. The first Edison hydroelectric power station began operating in Appleton, Wisconsin in 1882, with an output of about 12.5 kilowatts. By 1886 there were 45 hydroelectric power stations in the US and Canada.
In Europe, Grenoble was to become the centre of electrification from the start of electrical power generation. In 1883 Marcel Depréz succeeded in transmitting direct current over a distance of 14km to Grenoble. The driving force however, was to be Aristide Bergés, who became the voice of the developing industry, being one of the first to adopt hydropowered electrical turbines for paper manufacture, and indeed building a dam to help expand his business. An excellent communicator, he is remembered for his famous speech given at the Paris World’s Fair in 1889, who coined the term ‘white coal’ to ‘fire the imagination and report intensely that the mountains and glaciers, which provide the driving forces, are just as valuable for their region and for the state as the coal from the depths’. He strongly believed that such technical progress should also be used for social progress, and had electricity installed in the houses of Lancey, as well as founding in 1896 the Société d'éclairage électrique du Grésivaudan which supplied low-cost electricity to the valley and supplied the tram line from Grenoble to Chapareillan. It’s potential was soon recognised and seized upon by the Grenoble authorities, both municipal, industrial, and indeed academic and legal, who began working together to further development. In 1899 the Grenoble Electrotechnical Institute was created with links to the University, and that year also saw the formation of the Société générale Force et Lumière (SGFL), which became one of the leading hydroelectric power companies. The region thus saw the creation of new professions and industries through the development of public works, the construction of dams, the rise of cement factories, the manufacture of turbines and electrical equipment, improved transportation, and the development of electrochemical and electrometallurgical industries. Such a transformation was not without controversy, many decrying the loss of traditional trades such as glove-making, and the dramatic changes to the landscape which such large scale constructions resulted in. Indeed Bergès himself faced a number of civil court challenges from aggrieved farmer who had lost land and which affected his health towards the end of his life, although his legacy lives on today, with a school and road named after him in Grenoble.
In response to these rapid developments, a union of owners and industrialists owning or exploiting hydraulic forces was formed in 1901, and under whose auspices this first Congress was organised. It brought together for the first time, all the parties involved in the creation and operation of hydroelectric facilities: directors of companies, engineers, civil servants, academics, etc. From the tone of the preface, it seems likely that the present publication was done in limited numbers, with copies given primarily to delegates and other interested parties. The first volume provides details of the committee, the programme and itinerary of the Congress, an account of the plenary sessions, and transcripts of the various conference papers delivered by delegates, who counted amongst their number engineers, lawyers, academics, industrialists, and government ministers. The second volume, which is printed on better quality paper to enable the extensive inclusion of half-tone images, describes in detail the various excursions to visit sites including Lancey (the site of Bergés’ paper mill); la chute et des usines de la Société hydro-électrique de Fure et Morge; des chutes et usines de la Société des Forces motrices du Haut-Grésivaudan; the chute d’Avignonet; usines électriques de Grenoble et Voiron; Chamonix; Simplon; and electric installations at Lausanne. A Lengthy section of ‘notices d’usines’ then follows describing numerous factories and industries which are associated with and benefit from hydroelectric power.
A Turbine commission was set up as a result, bringing together scientists, operators and manufacturers, to study the various problems relating to the performance of the machines and to look into the number of accidents that had occurred at certain installations. Eventually an independent company was created - the Société Hydrotechnique de France (SHF) in 1912.
This was the first of three such Congress to be held, with further gatherings in 1914, 1922, and most notably perhaps, in 1925. By this time the region had grown considerably, the Congress was expanded becoming an International Exhibition of Hydropower and Tourism which promoted not only the benefits of hydroelectric power, but Grenoble in general.

1792. 4to, pp. 4; with woodcut head-piece; a little foxed and spotted with some dust-soiling (mainly marginal), and some light finger-soiling visible to fore-edge; with contemporary inscription above head-piece ‘Bon pour imprimeur chez M. Descamps Douay le 12 avril 1792’; stitched in later marbled wrappers, and with plain paper outer dust-wrapper, title and date in manuscript florid calligraphic hand, believed to be in the hand of Quarré-Reybourbon, with his book-label ‘Collection Quarré-Reybourbon, Lille’ on inside cover of front marbled wrapper; very good. First edition of this important legal document announcing the approval for use of a mechanical beheading device, first called a ‘louisette’, but more infamously later renamed after Joseph-Ignace Guillotin (1738-1814).
Whilst not the first such capital punishment device, the guillotine became synonymous with the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror, although it was invented with the intention of making executions more humane and less painful, in accordance with Enlightenment thought. Previous methods were substantially more gruesome and often prone to error.
Guillotine first proposed the use of a more humane device on October 10th 1789. A death penalty opponent, he sought to persuade Louis XVI to implement a less painful alternative, and proposed to the National Assembly that capital punishment should always take the form of decapitation ‘by means of a simple mechanism’. It was, however, the French surgeon and Royal physician Antoine Louis (1723-1792), together with the German engineer Tobias Schmidt (1755-1831), who built the first prototype, Louis as Perpetual Secretary of the Academy of Surgery having been appointed as head of a committee to investigate the matter. The eventual machine was deemed successful, and soon replaced the more traditional methods of beheading by sword or axe, or hanging.
The present pamphlet announces the passing of the decree by the National Assembly on March 20th 1792, and transcribes Dr. Louis’ text, ‘Avis motivé sur le mode de la décolation’: ‘The mode in use in the past to cut off the head of a criminal exposes him to a more dreadful torture than the simple deprivation of life... The execution must be done in an instant and only one blow... It is necessary for the certainty of the process, that it depends on invariable mechanical means, of which one can also determine the force and the effect... The back of the instrument must be strong enough and heavy enough to act effectively like the ram which is used to drive in pillories... It is easy to have such a machine built, the effect of which is unmistakable, the beheading will be done in an instant... ‘
What makes the present example of particular appeal to printing historians, is the contemporary inscription found above the woodcut head-piece ‘Bon pour imprimeur chez M. Descamps Douay le 12 avril 1792’, and noting ‘1400 placards, 1500 in 4to’, suggesting that the present copy was used as a template for a provincial impression. There is a further signature - ‘Delval Lagache’, and who we believe to be Antoine Joseph Delval Lagache (1749-1822), at the time appointed by Paris as a leading administrative figure in Douai, and who would no doubt have been in charge of the distribution of National Assembly decrees throughout the region (see Duthilloeul, Galerie Douaisienne, 1844, ff. 96). François Descamps (1760-1794) was a printer in Douais. Initially rallied to the ideals of 1789, he subsequently became disillusioned with the anti-religious policy of the Revolution and began publishing critical essays and verses. In 1794 he was denounced by the revolutionary committee of Douai, and was put to death - by guillotine - on April 21.
The present example was once in the collection of the noted French historian and collector Louis François Quarré-Reybourbon (1824-1906). He amassed an impressive collection of objects and works relating to the département du Nord, Hainaut and Artois.

ca. 1840.]. Educational game, housed within attractive presentation box 185 x 140 x 20mm; box divided internally into two compartments, the larger central section retaining original silk tie, with narrower outer lateral compartment; set comprising 8 hand-coloured engraved alphabet cards embellished with gilt (presumably of 26) 62 x 90mm, 9 small cards (15 x 15mm) with black background with printed letters in red, yellow and green, 1 small card (15 x 15) with black background and the number 3, and 32 small bone pieces or ‘cards’ (60 x 16mm), each with printed paper label mounted on recto and verso giving syllable and associated image, (12 pieces are natural colour, 9 dyed red, 6 dyed yellow, and 5 dyed green, one of which is slightly chipped); some general light soiling and wear visible; housed in the original highly decorative lidded box, upper cover with mounted lithograph title including hand-coloured vignette depicting the devil climbing through the letter D, surrounded by a group of children trying to chase him away; mounted title a little stained and soiled, with small hole in lower text with loss of a couple of letters and slightly interrupting meaning; all edges of lid with ornate gilt foil floral border, box edged with green and gilt decorative paper, lower box edged in gilt, old bookseller label on base lettered in ms, some wear to corners and extremities, but otherwise a most appealing set. A rare and striking mid 19th century French educational game for young children, by Charles Letaille, seemingly unknown to bibliographers, and with no further copies located.
Whilst sadly seemingly incomplete - missing a number of letters of the alphabet, and almost all of the numbers, it is nevertheless a most attractive survivor, in the original highly decorative box with the eye-catching hand-coloured lithograph, signed ‘d’ Aubert et de Junca’, of a devil climbing through the letter ‘D’ on the upper lid, surrounded by a large crowd of children trying to drive him away.
As the title on the upper lid states, the game was intended to introduce children to the alphabet and syllabary, through a series of mnemonic images, and by using familiar fables and tales, to help develop language skills in both an entertaining and instructive way. Clearly en entrepreneurial man, Letaille has clearly been inspired by Abbé Berthaud’s famous pedagogical work of 1743 ‘Quadrille des Enfants’, a work accompanied by a box of 88 engraved tiles, very similar to those found here, and proved to be a popular and highly visual educational aid for young children. The present game has ‘re-packaged’ Berthaud’s idea.
The box includes eight charming hand-coloured engraved cards on thick paper, presumably of 26, and providing a mnemonic visual guide to the letters ‘B’ (Barque), ‘J’ (Jardinage), ‘N’ (Natation), ‘O’ (Oreille), ‘P’ (Pécheur), ‘U’ (Union), ‘V’ (verre), and finally ‘Y’ (yeux). All have been embellished with gilt, and six of these incorporate images of children engaged in fun pursuits such as sailing, gardening, fishing, swimming, and viewing the sky with a telescope. The accompanying 32 small double-sided bone pieces or ‘cards’ each have a mounted printed label, illustrating letters, digraphs, and trigraphs on one side, with a hand-coloured printed associated image on the reverse. Ten additional and much smaller printed thick card pieces are included, each with black background and coloured letter or number. Again, we assume these to be only a handful of the full original set.
Whilst this could perhaps be a prototype or proof version of the game, therefore explaining the missing pieces, we have found one reference to the game, listed in the boxed game section of Hector Bossange’s trade ‘Catalogue: Libraire et commissionnaire pour l'étranger’ of 1841 (item 6662 p. 180), priced at 4 fr. 50 c. We have so far found no other record of it, however, and whilst all of the games of this period are no doubt scarce, it could be that the game did not find a ready market, perhaps being too complicated and convoluted, or that people cottoned on to the obvious plagiarism of Berthaud’s innovative literacy game. The use of such a diabolical image on the upper lid, even if intended to serve a didactic purpose, may also have been a little off-putting!
The lithographer of this striking image, is presumably Gabriel Aubert (fl.1836-1847), who together with his brother-in-law Charles Philipon (1800-1862) founded the publishing house ‘La Maison Aubert’. Specializing in social and political commentary and satire, notably the journals ‘La Caricature and Le Charivari (to which Honoré Daumier contributed caricatures of the king and ministers), they fell foul of the authorities. Philipon was jailed for a short time - and although Aubert escaped this punishment, he moved away from his political activities to set up his own lithographic establishment, and focus upon more mainstream concerns. The choice of this devilish image on a work for children, suggests that he may not have lost his enjoyment for being provocative, however. The engraver and publisher Charles Letaille specialised for a number of years in printing religious material, but during the 1830s began publishing a series of educational works and board games for children, including ‘Le Tour de Monde’ (ca. 1840), and ‘Tableau abrégé de l’histoire des voyages’ (a moveable book printed ca. 1845). Both are scarce.
The survival of such games, scarce by their very nature, reveal much about 19th century French society, a period which saw the rise of the middle class in Europe who enjoyed a growth in both leisure time, and money to spend on such pleasurable pursuits. As a response to this new market, publishers such as Letaille, together with other publisher’s and map makers, increasingly turned their attention to the commercial manufacture of games aimed at families and children. As such, ‘Les Lettres en Action’ is an extremely scarce and striking example.

1863. Large 8vo, pp. [iv], 440; with 20 steel engraved portraits, each retaining original tissue guards (all now somewhat browned); some occasional foxing throughout; retaining original two-colour silk marker; a lovely wide-margined copy, bound in full red morocco and signed by Tinot, spine with elaborate mosaic gilt tooling, covers ruled in gilt with green morocco detailing, inner gilt dentelles, all edges gilt, covers a little soiled and scuffed, with minor wear to extremities and corners. First edition, and a beautifully bound copy, of this work celebrating the life of twenty famous 18th century women, accompanied by steel engraved reproductions of their contemporary portraits by noted artists such as Largillière, Nattier, La Tour and Mme Lebrun. Amongst those featured include Madame de Pompadour, Madame du Chastelet, and of course Marie-Antoinette.
Arsène Houssay (1815-1896) was a noted French novelist and man of letters, who wrote a number of works on history and art criticism.
The present copy has been most attractively bound in mosaic red morocco by Jean-Baptiste Tinot.

1880. Single sheet of thick artist paper, 315 x 245mm, with central oval view of Bad Schoenbrunn done in watercolour, surrounded by a series of satirical black and white silhouette sketches and vignettes seemingly engraved, though possibly executed in pen and ink; print mounted on card 435 x 345mm; small correction made to the lower central silhouette, with what appears to be a very small photograph image of the head of Peter Joseph Hegglin, pasted on to replace original image; some light spotting and browning, otherwise very striking. An enchanting and unique ‘souvenir’ from the famous health resort of Bad Schönbrunn in Menzingen. Sadly anonymous, and seemingly executed at the turn of the century, the striking broadside comprises an appealing central watercolour vignette of the Spa buildings, set against an idyllic background of rolling hills, woodland and distant snow-capped mountains. This vignette is surrounded by a series of black and white silhouette vignettes, seemingly engraved, though resembling pen and ink drawings. Through this series of enchanting scenes, we are shown a number of the diversions, healthy activities, and treatments, on offer at the Spa. Those at the head of the broadside represent some of the outdoor and leisure activities available to patrons, including gentle walks in the countryside, a game of skittles, three men enjoying a game of billiards, musical soirees, painting, and nature watching. The silhouettes below the central oval focus more upon the treatments, a rather startled looking figure enduring various cold showers, towel wraps, and cold water hosing.
Two figures can be seen at the tail of the image - one seemingly taking the pulse of the other, as he is holding a pocket watch in his hand. Above the two figures flies a wreath-bearing dove. Of added appeal, the head of the ‘doctor’ has been replaced with what appears to be a very small original photograph image. We presume this to be that of Peter Joseph Hegglin (1832-1893) himself, the founder of the Spa in 1857, although it could also be his son Joseph Hegglin-Kerckhoffs (1862-1920) who appears to have taken over the running of the establishment. It eventually closed in 1926.
Sadly anonymous, the impression is that this wonderful ‘souvenir’ has been created by a previous patient ‘now on the mend’, and who has perhaps had a small number of these engravings published to give as gifts to his fellow patients and the good Doctor. A unique and most charming depiction.
Two further attractive watercolour depiction's of the Spa are included with this image.

1883. 4to, pp. [iv], [204]; copiously illustrated throughout, each of the 100 chapters illustrated with one full page steel engraving facing the text, and usually a further small engraving within text page; with some occasional light foxing throughout and some faint marginal browning, but otherwise clean and bright; in the original blindstamped decorative green cloth, upper cover lettered in gilt with title within round floral wreath, boards with bevelled edges, head and tail of spine a little bumped and knocked, covers and spine with some minor spotting and scuffing, extremities a little bumped; a very good copy. First edition of this little-known and most attractively produced, late 19th century popular work of science, copiously illustrated with finely executed steel engravings.
Lévy devotes two pages to each of his chosen one hundred scientific ‘tableaux’, with a page of descriptive text to the left (often with inserted engraving), opposite a striking full-page steel engraving. Somewhat informally organised, he breaks up the volume as it were, into the twelve months of the year, devoting two pates to each month and providing the reader with an insight facts such average temperatures, hours of day-light, associated traditions, festivals, saint’s-day, together with an appealing allegorical plate.
The work includes for discussion scientific discoveries such as the diffraction of light, those of Torricelli and Archimedes, hot-air balloon flight, and the telescope. Lévy also describes the work of great scientists such as Aristotle, Galileo, Papin, Newton, Pythagoras, Euclid, Copernicus and Descartes. Rather portentously, the penultimate ‘tableaux’ addresses the question whether the end of the world is nigh - though as Lévy notes, various prognostications throughout history have so far come to nothing, and he concludes with the exhortation to ‘banish chimerical fears, leave aside these vain terrors, and let us only occupy ourselves with living well and with dignity’.
The BnF describe Albert Lévy (1844-1907) as ‘Physicien. - Directeur du service chimique à l'Observatoire de Montsouris (en 1894)’. From 1887 he ran a chemistry course at the Faculty of Science in Clermont, and later worked as a meteorologist at the Montsouris observatory and then in the Central Meteorological Office. He published a number of educational works.

1835. Small 8vo, pp. viii, 86, with a number of small woodcuts; title page a little soiled with some light paper abrasion at upper margin, lightly browned throughout, particularly at margins; uncut in the original green pebble-grained cloth, with printed paper label on upper cover (somewhat soiled), and remains of paper label along spine, joints and head and tail of spine neatly repaired. First edition of this uncommon introduction to the fibrous structures in particular, by Alexander M’Nab, Jun ‘Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, London’. According to the preface, Macnab has drawn upon more ‘voluminous works’, and hopes that his abridged compilation will provide a more accessible work for those ‘unable to conveniently to peruse more elaborate productions’. The woodcuts are apparently by ‘Mr Berryman’, and although as far as we can tell, Macnab makes no direction citation from other works, he does refer to case histories as described by physicians both in England, Europe and America, including ‘Dr. Kirkbride, resident physician of the Pennsylvania Hospital’, (p. 22) ‘Dr. Warren of Boston’ (p. 23), Dupuytren (p. 23), Bichat (p. 56) Delpech (p. 65) and ‘Mr. Hunter’ (p. 62) as well as a number of cases highlighted in the Medical Gazette.