Art de Faire Eclore de d'Elever en Toute Saison des Oiseaux Domestiques de Toutes Especes, Soit par le Moyen de la Chaleur du Fumier, Soit par le Moyen de Celle du Feu Ordinaire: [Art of Hatching and Raising Domestic Birds of All Species in All Seasons, Either by Means of Heat from Manure, or by Means of Ordinary Fire]

Paris: Imprimerie Royale, 1749. First edition.

1749 FIRST EDITION 2-VOLUME MONOGRAPH ON INCUBATION OF DOMESTICATED FOWL EGGS WITH TECHNIQUES ILLUSTRATED BY FINE COPPER ENGRAVINGS.

Two hardcover volumes 6 3/4 inches tall, full calf binding, spine with raised bands, compartments gilt, gilt red title labels, red-speckled edges, xii, Vol. I: xii, 342 pp, 9 folding copper plates; Vol. II: [iv], 339 pp, 6 folding plates; each volume additionally illustrated by 10 engraved title vignettes and several in-text engraved vignettes. Edges of boards rubbed, endpapers browned, pages age-toned, very good. French language.

RENE ANTOINE FERCHAULT DE REAUMUR (1683-1757) was a French naturalist regarded as a founder of ethology. He studied the relationship between the growth of insects and temperature. He also computed the rate of growth of insect populations and noted that there must be natural checks since the theoretical population numbers achievable by geometric progression were not matched by observations of actual populations. He devised processes for preserving birds and eggs, and elaborated a system of artificial incubation (offered here). He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in November 1738. Reaumur's contributions were cited by Joseph Needham in his History of Embryology, p 203: "But the most famous of all the attempts to make artificial as successful as natural incubation were those of de Reaumur, whose book De l'Art de faire eclore les Poulets of 1749 achieved a wide renown." Reaumur's place in history was secured by this contribution to the French economy. As noted in No Need for Geniuses (2016), Steve Jones notes, "In 1666, the monarch [Louis XIV], at Colbert's suggestion, established the Academie Royale des Sciences. As the years went by, more and more of their efforts were directed towards applied work. The Academy's efforts to apply its members' talents to commerrial ends reached a peak in the half-century around the Revolution. Reaumur was ordered to produce an account of the useful arts. His own contribution was a document entitled The Art of Hatching and Bringing up Domestic Fowls by Means of Artificial Heat, and he went on to edit an enormous multi-author work, the Descriptions des Arts Metiers, which ran to 113 folio volumes and took 25 years to complete. It remains the most extensive single publication on technology ever produced."