Földvári Books

Scarce Work on Volcanos with the Author’s Corrections; Atlas Included

Bylandt-Palstercamp, Adam de

Théorie des volcans. Tome Premier [Second; Troisième].

Paris: F.-G. Levrault, rue de la Harpe, No. 81. / Strasburg: Même Maison, rue des Juifs, 33 (Imprimé chez Paul Renouard, rue Garancière, no. 5.; Imp. Lith: de Thierry Frères, à Paris), 1835–1836. First edition. Authors copy (at least partly). In three volumes, plus atlas. In modern uniform half leather. Publisher’s printed wrappers bound into. [4] 470[=490] and [1] plate; [4] 438 and 16 p. autograph supplement; [4] 460 [2] and [1] plate. + 17 lithograph plates in album; sizes (ca.): 72 × 36; 72 × 54; 98 × 66 cm. Pierre Mosse’s bookplate on the inner front panel in each volume. Artistically restored. Overall in fine condition. Vol. 1.: Possessor’s inscription or dedication clipped from the front wrapper, restored. Water stain to upper outer corner almost throughout, otherwise fine. Vol. 2.: With several annotations, corrections, and deletions in Bylandt Palstercamp’s own hand in pencil, many inserted autograph notes in ink, in various lengths from a paragraph to pages, and a 16-page autograph supplement in ink at the end of the volume. Light water stain to the gutter. Otherwise fine. Vol. 3. Light foxing throughout, some pages tanned. Otherwise fine. Album: The maps are kept in the original printed paper wrappers (restored at folding). Some plates are slightly dusted, and chipped at the edges, some with light or darker foxing. Otherwise in very good condition.

An extremely scarce scientific work on volcanos, the second volume with several corrections and inserted notes in the author’s hand. With the atlas of 17 plates.

Bylandt-Palstercamp’s Théorie des volcans is a result of more than thirty years of research and survey of volcanos, while the author visited the mountain chains of Europe, Asia, and America. In this three-volume, monumental work he delineates many interesting and curious discoveries and revelations about the volcanos in general and the volcanic phenomena. Discusses his theories about the distinct elevation and the different shapes of the volcanos, the fixed orientation of their summits, slopes, and orifices, and the specific location of the volcanos around the globe. The author attributes the currents of the sea to volcanic activities, correlates earthquakes to the same phenomena, and shows the relation between mount altitudes and magnetic power. Bylandt-Palstercamp classifies the mountains, the lavas, and the operation of the volcanos and defines a general law to determine the formation of volcanic cones. The work is appended with an album of seventeen large plates to illustrate the subject.

Not much is known about the author, besides the present work and it's preliminary pamphlet, we couldn’t find anything else he published. The preliminary contains the same text as “Avant-propos” of the present book (vol. 1. pp. 1–83) with some minor stylistic and typographical changes and was published twice under the title Résumé préliminaire de l’ouvrage sur la Théorie des volcans, in Naples in 1833 and under a slightly different title in Paris, in 1834.

The second volume of our copy contains several annotations, corrections, and deletions in the author’s hand. The shorter notes and corrections are in pencil in the text, and the longer ones, written in ink on separate small papers, are inserted into the gutter at the corresponding locations. The extent of these notes varies, mostly the length of a paragraph, some are longer, like a 2-page one supplementing the section “Influence volcanique” on p. 38, and a 4-page revision of the text of “Effects des Eaux” on pp. 54–57. The section on Basalt on pp. 329–362 was corrected in pencil more heavily than the others, and a 16-page supplement in ink on Bohemia was added to the end of the volume (corresponding with the text on p. 396).

The album, printed the subsequent year in 1836, contains 17 lithograph plates of maps, views, and diagrams in three different large sizes, each designed by Bylandt-Palstercamp. Most of the plates are maps (12), and the others are views (some bear more than one) and/or diagrams. The majority of the plates are folio size and folded once (ca. 72 × 54 cm), four are half of this size, unfolded, and three plates are extra large, folded twice (ca. 98 × 66 cm).

1: Atmosphère […].

2: Carte Générale Des Courants Volcaniques Et De Leur Influence Sur Le Système De La Terre.

3: Carte Du Foyer Oriental.

4: Carte Du Foyer Occidental.

5. Carte Géologique et Volcanique De L’Etna. […].

6: [Etna, Siracusa]

7: Profil d’un Volcan assis entre les paralleles du grand Canal de feu & spécialement de l’Etna. / Basalts des Iles Ciclopëinner. / Les roches prismatiques à Paterno. / Les effets des tremblemens de terre sont entr’eux en raison inverse du guarré […]

7bis: Intérieur du cratère de l’Etna, 1832.

8: Les Iles Eoliennes ou de Lipari.

9: Carte volcanique du midi de l’Europe […].

10: Carte volcanique de la France Cenrale […].

11: Archipel de la Grèce. Ile De Santorin.

12: Environs de San-Léo. (Urbin.) […]. / Grotte basaltique près Arciréale dans Sicile. / Volcan qui s'est élevé momentanément en devant de la Sicile 1831. / Tableau comparatif entre quatre principaux Volcans […].

13. Carte Volcanique du grand Internum de Baia et de l'Ile d’Ischia. […].

14: Cratère du Stromboly. / Construction géométrique du Vesuve.

15: Carte volcanique du Vesuve et de la Campanie. […].

16: Peninsule de Sorrento.

Scarce, no records on RBH.

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Price: €20,000.00