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Convolute of very rare, early French works on (filtering) fountains and water sanitation, with handcoloured plates

AMY, [Joseph].
Nouvelles fontaines filtrantes. Approuvées par l'Académie Royale des Sçiences en plusiers rencontres, dont quelques-unes sont présentées dans ce livre, pour la santé des armées du Roi. Sur mer & sur terre, & du public, le tout accompagné de figures expliquées par lettres indicatives.

6 folding woodcut plates, 1 other woodcut plate and 7 (almost) full-page woodcut illustrations in the text.

Paris, A. Boudet, 1752. Two parts in 1 volume. 12mo. Contemporary mottled calf, spine with gilt compartments. 6 folding woodcut plates, 1 other woodcut plate and 7 (almost) full-page woodcut illustrations in the text. VIII, 72, 46 pp.

With:
(2) IDEM.
Suite du livre intitulé Nouvelles fontaines filtrantes (...) avec trois dissertations: 1. Sur les méchanismes de la nature, dans la corruption, la puanteur, la fadeur & le mauvais goût de l'eau dormante, & de tous les filtres, & dans les blessures souvent mortelles, faites intérieurement dans le corps humain par le verd-de-gris des fontaines & tous ustenciles de cuivre, dans les pharmacies, les cuisines, les offices, & chez tous ceux qui vendent en détail des alimens, des boissons & des drogues. 2. Sur la nécessité & la salubrité des vaisseaux de fer, pour la préparation des alimens. 3. Sur la nécessité & la neutralité, ou l'impuissance des fontaines d'étaim pur, ou de plomb affiné, sur le corps humain.
Ibid., idem, 1754. With a very nice series of 3 large folding etched plates on the "Empire of Copper" (1x signed "Le Brun inv. et f."), 6 woodcut plates of which 4 (large) folding, all the plates nicely contemporary handcoloured. LXXXII, 332, (4) pp.

And:
(3) IDEM/ (François THIÉRY).
Nouvelles fontaines domestiques approuvées par l'Academie Royale des Sciences. Première édition./ Question de medecine.
Ibid., J.B. Coignard and A/ Boudet, 1750. Four parts. With handcoloured woodcut dedication, 2 folding woodcut plates. 48, 61,(9), 72, 24 pp. At the end the following 2 folding leaflets:

(3a) FILTROIRS MILITAIRES, MARINS ET DOMESTIQUES.
N.pl., n.publ., (ca. 1750). Folding letterpress broadside/ advertorial leaflet. 240 x 140 mm. 2 pp.

(3b) INSTRUCTION GÉNÉRALE & SOMMAIRE, POUR LA CONDUITE DES NOUVELLES FONTAINES.
N.pl., n.publ., (ca. 1750). Folding letterpress broadside. 250 x 140 mm. (1) p.

And:
(4) BERTHIER, (Joseph).
Projet d'une pompe publique pour la ville de Paris.
(Paris, Chardon, 1769). 3-15 pp.

Very interesting collection of four very rare works and two broadsides on sanitation of water fountains for domestic and military use, all in first edition. Joseph Amy was born towards the end of the seventeenth century (1697 according to Blake) and died in 1760. According to the title-pages of Nouvelles fontaines filtrantes and Suite, he was "avocat au parlement d'Aix." As is illustrated by the present convolute, he strongly argues for improved sanitary conditions of water supply and the use of safe materials. He discusses water filters, copper, iron, and leaden vessels and tubes, constructions for healthy fountains as drinking water reservoirs, fountains for domestic and military use, and warns against the use of copper vessels, which leads to copper poisoning. He was one of the first to analyse chemically the water quality of French canals, sewers etc.

Ad 1 and 2: The text is largely a verbal explanation to the visual information of the (folding) woodcuts. These nice illustrations (nicely coloured in the second part) mainly show constructions for different types of small and large (public) filtering fountains. Plate XIII shows kitchen/ pharmacy utensils and the final plate depicts an interesting large machine for lifting containers of water. The nicest illustrations are the three humorous copperengravings of the inevitabilities of the rule of the "Copper Empire," where subjects die prematurely. It seems remarkable that especially these 3 plates are copperengravings, while all the other plates and illustrations are woodcuts! On the dangers for public health of the use of copper, lead an pewter, Amy published a separate work in the same year (Reflexions sur les vaisseaux de cuivre, de plomb et d'etain (...)). Two of the illustrations of the first work are repeated in the second.

Ad 3: The Nouvelles fontaines domestiques (61,(9) pp.) is followed by Question de medecine (72 pp. and the two folding plates), by François Thiéry, as can be deduced from second edition that also appeared in 1750 (with a different pagination). In that edition both Amy's name and that of François Thiéry are indicated on the respective title-pages. The other 2 parts of the work Avis au public (24 pp), and Second avis au public (48 pp, bound before the Nouvelles fontaines-part). Amy's findings were first published under the title Observations expérimentales sur les eaux des rivières de Seine, de Marne, d'Arcueil et de Puits et sur les filtres et les vaisseaux... les propres à purfier et à conserver l'eau (Paris, Morel le jeune, 1749). The Avis au public and the Second avis au public had been published separately without place or year, but a few copies we traced the combination of the four parts is as in our copy. At the beginning of the convolute is a coloured frontispiece (mounted on a blank leaf) depicting Heracles decapitating the multi-headed monster Hydra. This frontispiece may originally not belong to the work but is quite appropriate in view of the contents of the book.
After the title-page of the Nouvelles fontaines domestiques, there follow two leaves pp. 1-2 and 7-8 from the second part of Nouvelles Fontaines Filtrantes. They have been mistakenly bound in here, and are superfluous, because both leaves are also found in their appropriate place.

Ad 3a: Prospectus providing a summary of Amy's work with a recommendation for interested readers to buy the book itself. Also mentioning Troard's Parisian fountain factory, at the rue Poissonnière. Blake, p. 146: "Largely advertisement of the invention of Joseph Amy."

Ad 3b: Advertorial leaflet with 5 rules on the use of fountains and mentioning Amy's work and its publisher, as well as an extensive advertisement of Troard's factory, where approved vessels could be bought. Blake p. 230.

Ad convolute: The NUC (NA 0289951-2), lists two copies with Extrait du livre intitulé "Nouvelles fontaines domestiques", Nouvelles fontaines filtrantes and Suite, the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris lists several of the individual titles, but no volume with the present amount of works.

Good copy of these very rare works.- (Two lvs. blank right lower corner torn off, not affecting text; title-page of Berthier's work lacking; binding rubbed).

Blake, p. 13, 146, 230; Quérard I, p. 51; Wellcome II, p.41; NBG II, col. 455.

Related Subjects: 18th Century Architecture France Illustrated Books Medicine Metals Militaria Science Scientific Instruments

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