Memoires de l'Academie Royale des Sciences: Depuis 1666 Jusqu'a 1699: Tome IV

L'ACADEMIE ROYALE DES SCIENCES; Denis Dodart

A Paris : Par la Compagnie des Libraires, 1731

Quarto, 26 cm. Contemporary mottled calf, gilt ruled. Raised bands, red leather spine labels. Page ends washed red, marbled endpapers. [4], 333 pp.; 38 botanical plates. Rubbing, splitting starting to joints, paper label to final spine compartment. Occasional spotting, offsetting.

Contemporary smaller reprint of Dodart's Memoires pour servir a l'Histoire des Plantes, 1676.

The work was born out of the desire of the Academie Royale des Sciences to publish a natural history of plants, an idea first proposed by Claude Perrault in 1667, shortly after the Academie's foundation in 1666. Following Dodart's election to the Academie in 1673 (under Colbert's patronage), he was charged with the task, and prepared the Memoires pour server a l'histoire des Plantes with other members.