PASTEUR (Louis). Études sur le vin, ses maladies,... Lot 52

PASTEUR (Louis). Études sur le vin, ses maladies, causes qui les provoquent, procédés nouveaux pour le conserver et pour le vieillir. Paris, Imprimerie impériale, 1866. In-8, tobacco half-calf, ornate ribbed spine, green title page, gilt numeral at foot, gilt head (contemporary binding). viii and 264 pp. First edition of this study commissioned by Napoleon III, illustrated with 32 engravings, most of them colored, and in-text illustrations. The free-trade treaty (1860) between France and England concerning French wine was undermined by problems of poor preservation. Pasteur listed the various existing wine diseases, their causes and the means to remedy them, including the pasteurization method. He discovered that to destroy the germs in the ferments, the wine had to be heated 50 to 60 degrees beforehand. It is illustrated with 42 figures, including 32 color plates, of microscopic views of ferments and bacteria. At the foot of the spine, a gilt numeral and a stamp from the Bibliothèque du Cercle de l'Union artistique. Imperial Circle stamp, repeated. Some foxing, first endpaper partially cut. Spine faded, binding rubbed. Simon, Vin, 22 - Oberlé, Fastes, 985 - Bitting, 358 (1873).