Lot 419: Palissy, Bernard

Palissy, Bernard
Discours admirables, de la nature des eaux et fontaines, tant naturelles qu'artificielles, des metaux, des sels & salines, des pierres, des terres, du feu emaux. Paris: Martin le Jeune, 1580
8vo 6 1/4 x 4 in.; 159 x 102 mm. Roman and italic types, woodcut ornaments and capitals. Modern dark blue crushed morocco by Cuzin, gilt-ruled covers, gilt spine, edges gilt.
FIRST EDITION, "EXTREMELY RARE AND A BOOK OF GREAT IMPORTANCE IN THE HISTORY OF CHEMISTRY AND SCIENCE GENERALLY" (Duveen). A skilled potter, Palissy first became famous for making "rustic" enamelled earthenware, an art which earned him the position of "inventeur des rustiques figurines du roy". In 1575, despite his lack of formal education, he began lecturing on natural history. "There is little doubt that Palissy was... one of the first men in France to teach natural sciences from facts, specimens and demonstrations rather than hypotheses" (DSB). Written in the form of a dialogue between "Theorique" and "Pratique'", the Discours covers a wide range of subjects, the most important of which are those on hydrology and paleontology. "An early supporter of the infiltration theory, he denied that rivers and streams had any source other than rainfall. He also recognised the relation between fossils and both living and extinct species, and was one of the first to hold a reasonably correct view of the process of petrification. Palissy's views were not original, being derived from Leonardo da Vinci by way of Cardano's De subtilate [also in this sale]; however, Palissy used his own experience to illustrate and elaborate upon these views" (Norman).
References: Duveen 446; Norman 2:1629 (this copy); Hoover 621; Thorndike 5: 596-599
Provenance: Haskell F. Norman (bookplate; Christie's New York, 18 March 1998, lot 144