Chymie hydraulique, pour extraire les Sels essentiels des Végétaux, Animaux & Minéraux, avec l’eau pure. Par M. L. C. D. L. G.
Two folding engraved plates. xi, [5], 390 pp. Small 8vo, cont. red morocco, with the arms in gilt of either the Comtesse de Provence or the Comtesse d’Artois (see below), triple gilt fillet round sides, spine nicely gilt, a.e.g. Paris: J.B. Coignard, 1745.
First edition and a lovely copy in contemporary red morocco with arms (see below). “La Garaye (1675-1755), a Breton nobleman and philanthropist, was a diligent chemist who devised a novel method of preparing medicines from minerals by long maceration with neutral salt solutions. He also extracted a number of principles from plants as from Peruvian bark, the extract of which became known as the ‘essential salt of Garaye’.”–Neville, II, p. 3.
“He devised a rapid method of making black oxide of iron, and prepared an ammoniacal chloride of mercury called ‘Tinctura mercurialis’.”–Ferguson, II, p. 78 (under Marot).
It is unusual to find a book of this kind so finely bound. Daughters of King Victor-Amédée III of Sardinia, Marie Joséphine (1753-1810), and Marie Thérèse (1756-1805), married respectively the Comte de Provence (the future Louis XVIII) and the Comte d’Artois (the future Charles X). The arms for their bindings are identical (“le graveur ayant oublié de représenter la bordure crénelée ou dentelée, qui seule permet la discrimination” (OHR 2517).
A very fine copy, with the smallest defects to the binding. This is the first issue of the book with the title dated 1745. There is a second issue which appeared a year later with a new title-page and different publisher.
❧ Duveen, p. 391. Hoover 500. Partington, III, pp. 88-89. Quentin-Bauchart, II, pp. 309-331.
Price: $3,500.00
Item ID: 6078
