418 - FREZIER (Amédée François). Treatise on fireworks, in which we see : I. How to prepare the materials that go into the composition of fireworks. II. The method of making & composing all kinds of fireworks. III. Où l'on donne une idée de la conduite des feux de joye.

FREZIER (Amédée François). Treatise on fireworks, in which we see : I. How to prepare the materials that go into the composition of fireworks. II. The method of making & composing all kinds of fireworks. III. Où l'on donne une idée de la conduite des feux de joye. La Haye, J. Neaulme, 1741; in-12. 2 ff.-Frontispice-XVIII-394 pp.-3 ff. (table) 8 folding plates. Brown calf, spine ribbed and decorated, blond title page. Corners slightly rubbed. Handwritten bookplate on title. A good copy. Counterfeit of the original 1707 edition, with 3 intaglio headpieces and 8 plates. In the preface to the 1747 edition, the author explains that the fireworks of 1739 had reawakened public enthusiasm for pyrotechnics. As his Traité was out of print, a bookseller asked him to undertake a new edition of the work. In 1741, a new edition had appeared in The Hague, but without his authorization. Frezier was a multi-faceted scientist, mathematician, architect, cartographer, entomologist and botanist. On a trip to Chile, he brought back Fragaria chiloensis, which, crossed with Fragaria virginiana (wild strawberry), gave rise to Fragaria ananassa, our cultivated strawberry.