Milestones of Science Books

ROMÉ DE L'ISLE / HALLÉ, Jean Noël.

Des caractères extérieurs des minéraux. / Recherches sur la nature et les effets du méphitisme des fosses d'aisance.

Paris: Chez l'Auteur, Didot jeune, & Barrois jeune / L'Imprimerie de Ph.-D. Pierres, 1784.

1st Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Item #002539

Des caractères extérieurs des minéraux. Paris: Chez l'Auteur, Didot jeune, & Barrois jeune, 1784. [4], 82, [2] pp., including half-title, 3 large folding printed tables and 1 folding plate of crystal structures (misbound at end of second work). [Bound with:] II. HALLÉ, Jean Noël. Recherches sur la nature et les effets du méphitisme des fosses d'aisance. Paris: L'Imprimerie de Ph.-D. Pierres, 1785. [2], 184 pp. 8vo (188x 125 mm). Contemporary half calf, spine decoated in gilt and with gilt-lettered red morocco label (boards and extremities rubbed, corners chipped and bumped), marbled endpapers, red-coloured edges. Text crisp and virtually unspotted, some soiling to p.45 of second work. Fine copy of two rare works. ----

I. Hoover 689; DSB XI, p.522. VERY RARE FIRST EDITION of Rome de l'Isle's work on the external characteristics of minerals, which was meant as a supplement to his Cristallographie published one year before. In this work, "he stated his firm belief that form, density, and hardness were sufficient criteria to permit the identification of any mineral species." (DSB).
II. EXCEEDINGLY RARE FIRST EDITION with no copy recorded at auction in the past 50 years. A work on the nature and origin of noxious and poisonous gases produced in cesspools. Jean Noël Hallé (1754-1822) was a French physician, professor of physical medicine and health at the École de Santé, and afterwards a professor at the Collège de France. He was a member of the French Académie Nationale de Médecine, and in 1795 was elected to the Académie des sciences, becoming its president in 1813. He was also "first-physician" to Napoleon Bonaparte. Hallé was a pioneer of hygienic reform in France, and a catalyst towards educating others as to its importance. He created distinctions between public and individual hygiene, and initiated studies and awareness involving the multiple issues that involve hygiene, such as contagious diseases, health in the workplace, and problems associated with living in a high density urban environment, to name a few (Wiki).

Price: 1,800 €  *  convert currency