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L'ART D'ECONOMISER LE BOIS, OU DIX PROCÈDÉS DE FEU ÉCONOMIQUES.
(Paris: L'imprimerie de Valade, fils aîné, 1792). 210 x 130 mm. (8 1/4 x 5 1/4"). xviii, [3], 22- 152 pp. Translated by J. Goy.
Publisher's blue paper wrapper, flat spine with paper label hand-lettered in ink, edges untrimmed, three quires UNOPENED. With 14 folding engraved plates. First section with an attractive woodcut headpiece of a pastoral landscape; floral woodcut tailpieces throughout. VD18 11592109 (first edition). Front joint cracked, joints and spine with apparent chipping, first quire thinking about detaching, but the volume still intact and retaining much of its fragile antique appeal. The text clean and fresh, with the plates being crisp and well preserved.
In its original paper wrappers, this is an exceptionally well-preserved copy of a scarce work on stoves, heating, and saving wood, first printed in Quedlinburg in 1790. Our author, Johann Heinrich Sachtleben, writes in the introduction that he composed this book on efficient and economical heating in response to increasing wood prices throughout Europe. The 14 engraved plates, done in imitation of those in the German edition, are particularly appealing. The technical depictions of chimneys and cooking apparatuses are joined by illustrations of stylish heating stoves, with artistic decorative elements. This is quite a rare book: OCLC finds no copies in American institutions. And we have been unable to trace any copies of this French edition at auction and only two copies of the German edition. Our copy is distinguished by the state of preservation of its original wrappers, assembled by the publisher as a temporary binding using unmatching endleaves repurposed from other volumes, never intended to have lasted as the book's binding for well over two centuries. (ST20535-05)
Price: $750.00