From the Great French Advocate of the Tree
Des Semis et Plantations des Arbres, et de leur culture ; ou méthode pour multiplier et élever les arbres, les planter en massifs et en avenues ; former les forets et les bois ; les entretenir, et rétablir ceux qui sont dégradés : faisant partie du Traité complet des bois et des forêts.
Paris: H. L Guérin et L. F. Delatour, 1760.
Price: $3,000.00
About the item
First edition. With 17 folding plates. lxxx, 383, 27, 10 pp. 1 vols. 4to. From the Great French Advocate of the Tree. Contemporary quarter calf, marbled boards, uncut. Some rubbing to extremities, plates XIII & XV significantly stained, ptherwise both text and plates are clean, and sound; overall, a fresh copy. Nissen 545; Raphael, Sylva, #34.
Item #212277
Important work on the cultivation of trees by this prolific 18th-century polymath and savant (1700-1782), member of the Royal Academy, who published over 100 separate during his prolific lifetime, on a wide range of subjects which engaged his passions for chemistry, botany, agronomy and naval architecture. His most important contribution to agriculture was perhaps his introduction of the methods of cultivation of Jethro Tull into France, with his publication in of TRAITÉ DE LA CULTURE DES TERRES (1750-1761). But Duhamel was above all a great advocate of the Tree in France, and his numerous works on the cultivations of trees and shrubs, as well as forests and forest maintenance, are among his most important contributions. Previous to this work, Duhamel had published his TRAITÉ DES ARBRES ET ARBUSTES QUI SE CULTIVENT EN FRANCE (1755); and LA PHYSIQUE DES ARBRES (1758). This continuation of “notre travail sur les Forêts,” the author says in his Preface, is, in this case, “purement pratique”; and his aim to place simplified methods of cultivation “within the reach of all sorts of readers.” He divides his work into six books: (1) on terrain, exposure, climate, choice on trees; (2) Different methods of propagating trees; (3) Care of young trees; (4) Transplanting; (5) Forests; (6) Maintenance of Woods and Revitalization of damaged Forests. illustrated by the fine line engravings, this is indeed the work Duhamel most intended for a practical audience.
