Des couleurs et de leurs applications aux Arts industriels à l'aide des cercles chromatiques by CHEVREUL, Eugène - 1864

Paris: Jean-Baptiste Baillière et fils, 1864. Some modest wear to extremities, some intermittent pale spotting internally. Folio (14.25 x 11 inches; 362 x 279 mm). 26, [2] pages. 27 color plates. Original green gilt-lettered cloth. FIRST EDITION, SIGNED by Chevreul at the end of the preface and with an autograph note tipped-in by Arthur Liébaut, engineer of Arts and Manufactures, and specialist in steam engines and their applications to agriculture. Inscribed by Liébaut: "Monsieur Chevreul, âgé de cent ans et demi, a signé ce livre, en ma présence, le Dimanche 6 mars 1887, il m'a chargé de le remettre, de sa part, à Monsieur Gaston Tissandier, comme témoignage de haute estime pour les travaux scientifiques et pour son admirable courage. A. Liébaut." ["Monsieur Chevreul, aged one hundred years and a half, signed this book, in my presence, Sunday the 6th of March 1887, charging me to fill his place, on his behalf, to Monsieur Gaston Tissandier, as a testimony of the highest esteem for his scientific work and for his admirable energy. A. Liébaut."]

This is probably the rarest of all Eugène Chevreul's publications on color. He developed the practical results he had obtained to define and name the colors and expresses here for the first time the means of obtaining, according to a carefully-managed process, the successive degradations of several colors which here have been noted in pencil on the 13 chromatic scales: gray, purple-red, orange-red, orange, yellow-orange, yellow, green-yellow, green, blue-green, blue, violet-blue, purple, and red. In addition to the 13 plates of the chromatic scales, Chevreul repeats in this treatise the 14 colored plates of the atlas which accompanied the presentation of a means of defining and naming the colors (1861). The 27 plates were engraved by René Digeon and printed in color by Lamoureux.

A fine association copy: The 28 August 1886 issue of 'La Nature' records the relationship between Tissandier and Chevruel: "Although all active in scientific research and publication during the 19th century, M. Eugène Chevreul, M. Gaston Tissandier, and M. Arthur Liébaut's professional years did not overlap. However, all were attendees during varying years of a regular scientific conference, entitled 'Conference Scientia' which was founded, in part, by Chevreul. The conference convened a group of influential French scientists in the late 19th century. The final conference attended by M. Chevreul took place on December 11, 1884... Yet it is known that both M. Liébaut and M. Tissandier were present at the same conference on January 21, 1886, one year before this by a note Liébaut wrote to M. Tissandier on behalf of M. Chevreul. At the conference, Chevreul was mentioned in the opening speech as an acknowledged 'elder' among French scientists. Speeches from the conference are recorded in 'The Civil Spirit,' a journal from the late 19th century which provided weekly coverage of "Industries of France and Abroad."

As the most senior of the three scientists, Chevreul's career served as a paradigm to Liébaut and Tissandier. Just following Chevreul's era of research, Tissandier founded the notable scientific journal 'La Nature' in 1872.

For Chevreul's one-hundredth birthday, Tissandier wrote a tribute to the senior scientist as the editor of 'La Nature' entitled "M.E. Chevreul" on August 28, 1886. Of the centenarian, Tissandier left a detailed and intimate picture: "M. Chevreul is tall of stature and is, even today, slender and erect. Elegant of manner, of incomparable affability, he rarely greets you without a smile on his lips. A few years ago, he still used to attend the winter ball at the Elysée, and we recall seeing him there at midnight, fresh and smiling." The reference here to the "winter ball" is one held by Conference Scientia - the meeting point of the three scientists.