Botany.- Forestry.- Duhamel du Monceau (Henri Louis) La Physique des Arbres où il est traité de l'anatomie des plantes, 2 vol., first edition, 50 engraved folding plates, a few wormholes at foot of first few ff. of vol.2, bookplates, contemporary half calf, gilt spines with red and white labels, [Nissen BBI 542], 4to, Paris, H.L. Guerin and L.F. Delatour, 1758.

⁂ A beautiful copy of the first edition of this important and pioneering work on forestry. "His appointment in 1732 as Inspecteur général de la Marine prompted a treatise on rope-making but he also continued working on plant physiology and agriculture. In this field, he was one of the oustanding botanists of the eighteenth century... Duhamel's knowledge of trees was based on practical experience for on his estates at Vrigny and Monceau (Loiret) and his brother's at Denainvilliers, he established botanic gardens for the culture of trees, shrubs and new exotics." (S. Raphael. An Oak Spring Sylva, pp.9 & 13)