11-18-201211-18-2012
Skinner Auctions
Skinner AuctionsBoston MA
2621BBoston
November 18, 2012 11:00 AMCalender
587

Lyonet, Pierre (1706-1789) Traite Anatomique de la Chenille

Sell one like this
$900$750
Auction: Books & Manuscripts - 2621BLocation: BostonDate / Time: November 18, 2012 11:00AM

Description:

Lyonet, Pierre (1706-1789) Traite Anatomique de la Chenille. The Hague: Gosse & Pinet, 1762.
First edition, large quarto, title page printed in red and black, illustrated with an engraved frontispiece of Lyonet's microscope and eighteen folding engravings by Lyonet; occasional browning; bound in contemporary mottled calf, gilt-tooled spine.
Lyonet's exhaustive microscopic appraisal of the goat moth caterpillar (Cossus cossus) represents an important 18th century development in the western approach to science, as the specialist takes the place of the polymath. It takes five years for a goat moth to go from egg to moth. They get their name from a strong "goat-like" smell they emit in the larval state.
Estimate $700-900