499 - Reaumur, (R.A.F.) de.

Reaumur, (R.A.F.) de. A Method for Hatching and Raising Domestic Birds of All Species in Any Season... 2 vols. Paris, Impr. Royale, 1749. With 15 folded copperplate engravings and 10 engraved vignettes. XII, 342 pp.; 2 leaves, 339 pp. Contemporary leather binding with gilt lettering and gilt edges. Nissen, Zoological Book Illustrations, 3314. Güntz II, Agricultural Literature, 2 f. First edition. — A classic of poultry breeding! — Discusses the incubators invented by the author, with which poultry can be produced in large quantities at any time of year. Also provides detailed information on the rearing and care of poultry. — “If you will, the early success of artificial incubation was an outstanding achievement, similar to the invention of the wheel—after all, artificial incubation is not a feat of the modern era. Long before electricity found its way into households, chicks were already hatching in China and Egypt over 2,000 years ago. In the Middle Kingdom, this was done in heat reservoirs prepared with manure, while in the land of the pharaohs along the Nile, it was achieved by harnessing solar heat in chamber-like mud incubators. A similar development involving the use of manure for heat generation appears to have taken place in Europe just as long ago, as Democritus reported around 400 B.C.... Ultimately, it was the Frenchman R. A. Réaumur (1683–1757), a physicist and zoologist with many scientific achievements, who—still under the influence of the Thirty Years’ War—actively promoted artificial incubation using horse manure and the thermometer he had designed” (Günter Stach, “The History of Artificial Incubation and Rearing,” in: Geflügelzeitung 5/2012). — The decorative bindings show only slight rubbing and minor staining; a fine copy.