Justin Croft Antiquarian Books : [EMERY, Antoine Joseph d’.] - Nouveau recueil de curiositez, les plus rares & admirables de tous les effects, que l’art & la nature sont capables de ...

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[EMERY, Antoine Joseph d’.] Nouveau recueil de curiositez, les plus rares & admirables de tous les effects, que l’art & la nature sont capables de produire. Augmenté de plus de moitié, de merveilleux & beaux secrets gallands & autres, tres-utiles... de conserver leur santé... Leyden: Pierre van de Aa, 1688.

2 parts in one vol., 12mo (144 × 76 mm), pp. [viii], 488, [32]; [ii], 388, [26]. Engraved additional general title and 8 plates (one signed Schoonebeek). Occasional minor stains, but actually quite clean. Contemporary sprinkled calf, gilt panelled spine. Rubbed, spine somewhat creased with label now indistinct. A very good copy of a type of book rarely found thus.

A classic of the “Book of Secrets” genre. It had first appeared in 1674 with several further editions appearing in the following two decades. There are chapters of recipes, on wine, vinegars and conserving flowers, fruits etc.; the many other subjects include medical cures (a substantial section), fireworks, perfume and cosmetics. Copies of all editions are frequently mutilated or in poor condition (reflecting a utilitarian purpose). The attribution of the work remains problematical and it is occasionally catalogued under the authorship of the chemist Nicolas Lémery.

Krivatsy 3649; not in Wellcome (which cites editions of 1684, 1697 and c. 1700).

£800.00 (equal to approx. US$1266.78* or €989.37* for 22 May 2012)

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