La Physique des Arbres; où il est traitè de l'Anatomie des Plantes et de l'Économie Végétale: pour servir d'Introduction au Traité complet des Bois & des Forests..

50 folding engraved plates. 3 p.l., lxviii, 307 pp.; 2 p.l., iii, [1], 432 pp. Two vols. Large 4to, cont. mottled calf, spines nicely gilt, red & black morocco lettering pieces on spines. Paris: H.L. Guerin & L.F. Delatour, 1758. First edition. Duhamel (1700-82), French polymath, made notable contributions in agronomy, chemistry, botany, and naval technology. His major interest and contribution to technology and society was in agriculture. Duhamel "adapted Tull's system to France based on his own wide reading in French agronomy and on original experiments."-D.S.B., IV, p. 224. This is the second in Duhamel's series of books describing all aspects of trees and their cultivation. It is one of the most complete treatises on trees, the anatomy and structural properties of wood, and the management of tree stands of the 18th century. In his "Dissertation" (pp. xxix-lxv of Vol. I), Duhamel gives an interesting account of the then-current botanical systems including those of Morison, Ray, Tournefort, Magnol, and Linnaeus. The text of Vol. I is largely concerned with the anatomy of trees. Vol. II is devoted to the most up-to-date methods of tree propagation. Fine and handsome set. Blindstamp of "Ovesholm" on half-titles. This was the castle in southern Sweden built in 1792-1804 by Carl Adam Wrangel (1748-1829), who filled the building with a fine library, paintings, and sculpture. ❧ Pritzel 2468.