Leteur worked as a technician and chemistry assistant at the Faculty of Sciences in the University of Paris, probably at the Sorbonne. Besides a single mineralogical book, he published several obscure articles on the chemistry of minerals. He was elected a member of the Société Chimique de France in 1894 and the Société Française de Minéralogie et de Cristallographie in 1905. He remained listed in the membership rolls of the later society until 1937. Unfortunately, his first name is never referred to except for the single initial, F.

Biographical references: Bulletin de la Société Française de Minéralogie: 1937. • Internet search.

1. French, 1907.
[In black:] Traité Élémentaire | De | [in red:] Minéralogie | [in black:] Pratique | par | [in red:] F. Leteur | [in black:] | Préparateur A La Faculté Des Sciences | [rule] | Ouvrage Illustré De 150 Figures | Et De 26 Planches Hors Texte, Tirées En 15 Couleurs | [ornament] | Paris | [in red:] Librairie Ch. Delagrave | [in black:] 15, Rue Soufflot, 15.

8°: [4], [1]-152 p., 26 chromolithographic plates (numbered I-XXVI). Page size: 300 x 216 mm.

Contents: [2 pgs], Half title page, "Traité Élémentaire | De | Minéralogie | Pratique," verso blank.; [2 pgs], Title page, verso blank.; [1] "Introduction."-signed F. Leteur.; [2], Blank.; [3]-73, Text [=practical mineralogy].; [74], Blank.; [75], Sectional title page, "Description | Des | Principales Espèces Minérales."; [76], Blank.; [77]-148, Text [=descriptive mineralogy].; [149]-152, "Table Des Matières."

Very scarce. A comprehensive introductory treatise on practical mineralogy that includes chapters on crystallography, optics, physical properties, chemical constitution, and illustrated with good color plates of various mineral species. The first portion of the text is divided into six sections. Topics covered are definitions, crystallography, optics, physical properties, chemical composition, practical determination of mineral species, and an overview of the systematic classification. The second portion is a descriptive mineralogy that illustrates many of the described species on one of the 26 chromolithographic plates, which show 396 mineral specimens. These renderings are of good quality with individual species easily recognizable. They are the same plates that accompanied Gustav Adolf Sauer's Mineralkunde (Stuttgart, 1905-6) and Alexander Bernard's Atlas Minerálů (Prague, 1907). Although undated, Leteur's book was known to be published in 1907 based on its notice in the mineralogical literature of the time.

Bibliographical references: BMC: 7, p. 624. • Centralblatt für Mineralogie: Jhg. 1907, p. 761. • International Catalogue of Scientific Literature: 1909, no. 9474 [gives year of publication as 1907].