PALISSY (Bernard)

Lot 40
Go to lot
Estimation :
3000 - 4000 EUR
Result with fees
Result : 4 044EUR
PALISSY (Bernard)
Le Moyen de devenir riche, et la manière véritable, par laquelle tous les hommes de la France pourront apprendre à multiplier & augmenter leurs thrésors & possessions. Second part of the Means of becoming rich, containing the Admirable Discourses of the Nature of Waters & Fountains. Paris, Robert Foüet, 1636. 2 parts in one large volume in-8 of (8) ff. 205 pp. miscoded 255 without missing, (2) blank ff. ivory vellum, traces of binding, title in ink on spine (contemporary binding). Rare collective edition. It brings together two treatises by Palissy initially published during his lifetime: the Récepte véritable (1563), published here under a new title that will be a success, and the Discours admirables des eaux et fontaines (1580). It is in this last text, which deals not only with "the origin, goodness, badness and other qualities" of water, but also with the alchemy of metals, drinking gold, vegetative or generative salts, and precious stones, that we find the account of Palissy's determination to discover the secret of making enamel. He recounts his endless experiments and the "calamities endured before achieving his goal": the failed attempts at firing, the disillusions, the doubts, his indebtedness to buy materials and provide for his family, etc., until the day when, having no more wood to feed his kiln, he was forced to burn tables and floors. A pleasant copy in contemporary vellum. Engraved bookplate of Doctor R. Ranjard. Ranjard. Small paper defect on folio F5 of the second part; some foxing. Vellum at the top of the spine torn off. (Caillet, n° 8265, cites only the collective edition of 1777. - Dorbon, n° 3450.)
My orders
Sale information
Sales conditions
Return to catalogue