PALASSOU (Pierre-Bernard de) - Lot 468

PALASSOU (Pierre-Bernard de) Essai sur la Minéralogie des Monts Pyrénées ; suivi d'un Catalogue des Plantes observées dans cette Chaîne de Montagnes ; ouvrage enrichi de planches et de cartes. Paris, Didot Jeune 1784. In-4: XVI, 330pp, (1)(errata); illustrated with a general folding map of the Pyrenees Mountains, 12 single plates out of text by FLAMICHON and MOISSET of views and sections with 2 subjects per plate and 7 folding maps in fine numbered I-VII. Contemporary marbled fawn basane, ornate ribbed spine, red title page, filleted edges, minor defects, red edges. A fine copy. Second edition, the original is from 1781 in Paris, Didot, Jombert & Esprit. The first has a longer title: "Essai sur la Minéralogie des Monts Pyrénées Suivi d'un Catalogue des Plantes observées dans cette Chaîne de Montagnes; Ouvrage enrichi de Planches et de cartes". This second edition has 2 fewer maps than the first. One of the finest early books on the Pyrenees. Born in Oloron in 1745, PALASSOU began his studies with the Jesuits in Pau, then continued as a philosophy student in Bordeaux. He went to Paris to study science, where he met Lavoisier and Guettard. The government commissioned him to collect the materials needed to draw up the mineralogical map of France. From then on, he surveyed the Pyrenees and gathered data for this "Essai". For the iconography, he turned to the engineer FLAMICHON, author of the "Théorie de la Terre". He was later appointed a corresponding member of the Académie des Sciences (Labarère 1134). Provenance: Printed bookplate to be identified ("aux trois monts d'or").