Les Sirops et Les Conserves de Raisins
Paris, Chez Méquignon, 1810. Parmentier, A A. Traité sur L'Art de Fabriquer Les Sirops et Les Conserves de Raisins. (3rd Ed) Chez Méquignon: Paris, 1810. 8vo (215x140mm) rebound qtr sheepskin, gilt dec spine, marbled bds [3-5],6-388pp. In French. Lacks half-title
Second-hand hardcover
PARMENTIER, A A. [Antoine-Augustin (1737-1813)]
Traité sur L'Art de Fabriquer Les Sirops et Les Conserves de Raisins, destinés a suppléer le sucre des colonies dans les principaux usages de l'Economie domestique.
Paris : Chez Méquignon, 1810. Third edition, revised, corrected and augmented. Originally published under the title Instruction sur les sirops et les conserves de raisin 1808.
Octavo (210x135mm) rebound in a contemporary style, quarter bound smooth gilt decorated sheepskin spine, red morocco, gilt lettered spine label; comb marbled paper boards, new end-papers; top edges trimmed, [3-5],6-388pp: A[-A₁]-Bb²; multi-coloured ribbon marker. In French. Lacks half-title; boards lightly scuffed; small pinhole to p.341/Y³; in-text table at pps.195-196; occasional light foxing not affecting the text; pages faintly age-toned; seven lines of text at p.152 faintly printed.
In his last decades he investigated and championed the production of sugar from grapes/raisins. For most of the 18th century sugar was derived from sugar cane in the colonial plantations of the Caribbean. During the Napoleonic Wars, the Continental blockade (Berlin decree of 1806) caused a shortage of sugar, resulting in extreme prices for sugar which in turn lead to some civil and economic unrest in France. In response Napoleon offered a series of prizes to the chemists of France to find an alternate source for sugar. Parmentier investigated and advocated for the production of grape dextrose from raisins whilst exploring sugar production from a wide range of possible vegetable and fruit sources; the results of which are reported here in this volume, brought up to date by the ongoing research undertaken by Parmentier and his colleagues. For various reasons, sugar beet (upon which he also done much investigation) was selected as the preferred solution. Even today a significant portion of European sugar is extracted from sugar beets.
An intriguing example of how war creates innovation even in the most unlikely areas and how the foodstuffs we take for granted have a long and convoluted history. An excellent copy.
§ OCLC records 34 holdings, none outside of Western Europe or North America.
§ Cagle 377; Vicaire 658; Oberlé 835 and 836; Simon BV 223; Bitting, p.357.
Item #10431
Price: $900.00 AUD