DéMESTE, Jean.
(1743 – 1783)
Démeste was a medical doctor, principally a surgeon to the Army troops of the Bishop-Prince of Liège. His intensive study of chemistry gained him membership in many learned societies.
Biographical references: ABF: I 300, 211-212. BAB: I 182, 254-263 / 461, 292. Biographie Universelle: 11, 28. Laissus, Cabinets d'Histoire Naturelle, 1964. Nouvelle Biographie Générale (Hoefer): 13, 527. Poggendorff: 1, col. 548. Stouffs, Inventaire des Papiers du Didot, 1963. WBI.
1. French, 1779 [First edition].
Lettres | Du | Docteur Démeste, | [...5 lines of titles and memberships...] | Sur la Chymie, la Docimasie, la Cristalographie, | la Lithologie, la Minéralogie & la Physique | en Général. | [rule] | [Quote, signed Aeneid] | [rule] | Tome Premier [-Second]. | [ornament] | A Paris | [To left:] Chez { [to right:] Didot, Imprimeur de Monsieur, | Quai des Augustins. | Ruault, Libraire, rue de la Harpe. | Clouisier, Imprimeur & Libraire, | rue Saint-Jacques. | [double rule] | M.DCC.LXXIX. | Avec Approbation, & Privilége du Roi.
2 vols. [Vol 1] 12°: a6 A-Bb12 Cc6; 312l.; [1]-11, [1], [1]-611, [1] p. [Vol 2] 12°: a6 A-Dd12 Ee11; 341l.; [i]-xij, [1]-665, [3] p.
Contents: [Vol 1] [1-2], Half title page, "Lettres | du | Docteur Démeste, | au | Docteur Bernard. | [rule] | Tome Premier. | [rule]," verso blank.; [3-4], Title page, verso blank.; [5]-6, "Avertissement de l'Éditeur."; [7]-11, "Table des Lettres contenues dans ce Volume."; [1 pg], "Errata du Tome Premier."; [1]-610, Text.; 611, "Approbation."; [1 pg], Blank.
[Vol 2] [Vol 1] [i-ii], Half title page, "Lettres | du | Docteur Démeste, | au | Docteur Bernard. | [rule] | Tome Second. | [rule]," verso blank.; [iii-iv], Title page, verso blank.; [v]-xij, "Table des Lettres Contenues dans ce Volume."; [1]-562, Text.; 563-665, "Table des Matieres contenues dans les deux Volumes."; [2 pgs], "Addition a l'Errata du Tome Premier."; [1 pg], "Privilige du Roi."
Rare. These 48 letters cover a variety of subjects in chemistry, husbandry, crystallography, lithology, mineralogy and phyics. They contain many references to other works and personal communications with Romé de l'Isle. Treated as a whole, the letters work as an elementary course in chemistry and mineralogy. The mineral forms of a variety of metals, including arsenic, mercury, zinc, iron, copper, lead, are treated in volume two. The work concludes with an extremely detailed index.
Bibliographical references: Agassiz, Bibliographia Geologiæ, 1848-54: II 213. BL [no copy listed]. BMC. CBN [R.33382-383]. Cole, Chemical Literature, 1988: no. 366. Duveen, Bibliotheca Alchemica et Chemica, 1965: p. 167. Gatterer, Mineralogischen Literatur, 1798-9: 1, 288. Hoover Collection: no. 262. LKG: VI 75. Monthly Review: 60 (1779), 536-9 [review of volume one]. Neu, Chemical, Medical & Pharmaceutical Books, 1965: no. 1117. NLM 18th Century Books (Blake): p. 114. NUC [ND 0158160]. Observations sur la Physique, sur l'Histoire Naturelle et sur les Arts: 13 (1779), 324-5 & 17 (1781), 216-27 [review]. Sinkankas, Gemology Bibliography, 1993: no. 1639.
2. German, 1784 [German transl.].
Herrn Doktor Demeste's, | [...2 lines of titles and memberships...] | Briefe | über die | Chemie, Probierkunst, Kristallogra= | phie, Lithologie, Mineralogie | und Physik. | An den | Herrn Doktor Bernard, | [...2 lines of titles and memberships...] | [ornate rule] | Aus dem Französischen. | [rule] | Novus .... Rerum nascitur ordo. Aeneid. Lib. VII. | [rule] | Erster Theil. | [ornate rule] | St. Petersburg u. Leipzig, | bey Johann Zacharias Logan 1784.
8°: [1]-439 p.
Very rare. German translation by ( ) Bernard [see note below] of Lettres du Docteur Démeste (Paris, 1779). Apparently, this is a German rendering of the first volume only.
LKG records that the translation was performed by Benedickt Franz Johann Hermann [1755-1806].
( ) Bernard. (Born: ; Died: ) German(?) physician. Berndard was a professor of medicine on the faculty of the University of Douay, as well as a Fellow of the Royal Society of London. - From title page.
Bibliographical references: Allgemeine Deutsche Bibliothek: Anhang to Bands 52-86, 2, 712 [review]. BL [no copy listed]. Bolton, Bibliography of Chemistry. Suppl. 1, 1899. Gatterer, Mineralogischen Literatur, 1798-9: 1, 288. LKG: VI 76a. (Bernard)
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