VALENTIN, Louis

Seconde et Troisième Notices Sur les Progrès des Sciences Physiques et Naturelles et Sur les Établissements de Bienfaisance dans les États-Unis d'Amérique [Reuben Haines Copy]

Marseille: L'Imprimerie de Jh.-Franç. Achard fils et Ce. 1809. First Edition. 12mo (20cm.); original unadorned pink side-stitched wrappers; 50pp. Wrappers a bit worn and toned along extremities, bottom third of spine perished, contemporary ownership rubberstamp to upper cover of Reuben Haines, faint pencil underlining to title page, else Very Good, internally fresh and sound.

Two missives (following an earlier title first published in 1806) covering the scientific progress made in the early years of the United States, first published in the "Mémoires de l'Académie de Marseille," Vol. 8. The first (i.e. second) notice covers scientific and geographical progress, including brief mention of the expedition of Lewis and Clark (pp. 4-5), and notes that President Thomas Jefferson only consumes sugar procured from his maple trees (p. 11). Latter notice on charitable and social institutions, including the nascent American prison system (pp. 35-42) and the Quaker's introduction of the concept of "solitary confinement" (p. 37). SABIN 98352.

Provenance: From the collection of Reuben Haines (ca. 1786-1831), Corresponding Secretary of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, whose family occupied the early 18th-century mansion Wyck House in Germantown, PA, for eight generations.

Price: $350.00

Go Back