[PONCELET (Polycarpe)]. - Lot 36

[PONCELET (Polycarpe)]. Chimie du goût et de l'odorat, ou principes Pour composer facilement, & à peu de frais, les Liqueurs à boire, & les Eaux de senteurs. Paris : imprimerie de P. G. Lemercier, 1755. - In-8, 174 x 108: frontispiece, 390 pp, (1 f.), 6 plates. Marbled fawn calf, cold fillet framing the boards, ornate ribbed spine, red edges (period binding). Vicaire, Bibliographie gastronomique, col. 171. - Oberlé, Les Fastes de Bacchus et de Comus, no. 1088. Rare first edition of this work by Father Poncelet, a religious récollet and famous agronomist, illustrated with a fine frontispiece engraved by Audran, a header engraved by the same artist, and 6 plates of instruments. In his preliminary dissertation, the author sets out a curious theory on the harmony of flavors, presented in the form of a musical scale: acid, bland, sweet, bitter, sour-sweet, austere and pungent, forming chords and dissonances. After general principles of infusion and distillation, he describes the particular principles of eau de vie, coffee liqueur, tea, cinnamon, lemon, citron, orange blossom, blackcurrant, aniseed, juniper, angelica, wormwood, Venus oil, etc.; ratafias or infusions of cloves, red fruits, carnations, green walnuts, quinces, angelica, aniseed; fruits in brandy. The book then includes an essay on odors, devoted to perfumed waters for the toilet, as well as a dictionary supplement and a vocabulary of unfamiliar terms. Bookplate of Jacques-Charles Wiggishoff (1842-1912), perfumer in Montmartre and mayor of the 18th arrondissement, author of Essai de bibliographie des parfums et des cosmétiques (1889). A very fine copy in contemporary glazed calf. Provenance: Jacques-Charles Wiggishoff, with bookplate.