DUHAMEL DU MONCEAU. The Physics of Trees; where... Lot 16

DUHAMEL DU MONCEAU. The Physics of Trees; where the anatomy of plants and plant economics are discussed [...]. Paris, H.L. Guerin and L.F. Delatour, 1758, 2 vols. 4°, [6]-LXVIII-306 p., vignette, 14 +14 plates, and [4]-III-[1]-432 p., 17+5 plates, i.e. 50 plates, full brown speckled calf of the period, back with richly decorated nerves (some snags, blunt corners, cut of the front plate of the 1st vol. damaged). Nice copy. Original edition. Treatise on botany and plant physiology. The author establishes the physical laws of wood growth, summarizes the theories of his contemporaries and gives a dictionary of agricultural and botanical terms adapted to forestry. A former inspector general of the navy, member of the Académie des Sciences and director of the Collection de la Description des Arts et Métiers, a friend of the Lavoisier father and son, Duhamel du Monceau (1700-1782) was one of the leading figures of agronomy in the 18th century. A specialist in the cultivation and exploitation of wood, he carried out a great deal of research in his experimental field in the Gâtinais.