De l'origine des fontaines.
A Paris: Chez Pierre le Petit, Imprimeur & Libraire ordinaire du Roy, rue Saint Jacques à la Croix d’or, M.DC.LXXIV [1674]. First edition. Woodcut printer’s device on title page. In contemporary vellum. (20) p., (1 [engraved frontispiece]) leaf, 353, (7) p. Bookplate of Graf Miklós Ferenc Esterházy de Galántha and Gräfin Mária von Plettenberg-Wittem of Nordkirchen. Occasional wormholes throughout, with minor loss to text between Dd3–Ee2. Wormhole on first quire artistically restored, with minor effect on text. Overall in fine condition.
The origin of the science of modern hydrology on a quantitative basis.
Pierre Perrault (1611–1680) was a French scientist, who developed the concept of hydrological cycle, thus considered the father of modern hydrology.
In this work he first defined the hydrological cycle and recognised intermittent rain as an important component of it. He made measurements of precipitation and runoff on the watershed of the Seine River and calculated its annual flow, thus paved the way for a universal recognition of the water cycle in its modern interpretation.
Provenance: With 19th-century armorial bookplate with aggroupment of the arms of Graf Miklós Ferenc Esterházy de Galántha (1804–1885) and his wife Gräfin Mária von Plettenberg-Wittem (1809–1861) above the word "Nordkirchen" (whose estate, later owned by the Dukes of Arenberg) on front pastedown.
Ref.: Honeyman 2458.
[Bibl.: Three centuries of scientific hydrology. Key papers. […]. Paris: Unesco, 1974.; Linton, J.: What is water? The History of a Modern Abstraction. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2010. pp. 115–116.; Windelspecht, M.: Groundbreaking Scientific Experiments, Inventions, and Discoveries of the 17th Century. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2002. pp. 99–102.]
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Price: €3,000.00