POUMIER - Lot 300

POUMIER Analyse et Propriétés Médicales des Eaux Minérales et Thermales de Barèges, Saint-Sauveur, La Raillère, Cauterès, Bagnères de Luchon, Bagnères-Adour, Labassère et Capvern ; Bonnes, Chaudes et Cambo, départemens des Hautes et Basses-Pyrénées ; précédées de l'Essai Minéralogique de la vallée d'Ossau. Paris, Crochard, Martinet ; Fontainebleau, Petit, 1813. In-8 : XVI, 144pp. Signed letter to M. Ansillon, avoué. Contemporary fawn roots calf, ornate smooth spine, red title-piece, minor spotting, gilt roulette framing the boards and on the edges, red speckled edges. Rare. Mineralogy occupies the first 11 pages. Poor Palassou is renamed Palasso. The research dates back to 1793, when POUMIER was asked by the chief physician of the Western Pyrenees army to visit the thermal establishments in the Ossau valley and draw up a mineralogical report on the valley. The author continued his research in Cambo, where he was an inspector, and then in the Hautes-Pyrénées. As you can see, POUMIER is stepping right on the toes of Palassou, whose name he skims in passing, and not only his own (Labarère 1201).