RAUCH (François Antoine). - Lot 85

RAUCH (François Antoine). Régénération de la nature végétale, ou recherches sur les moyens de recréer, dans tous les climats, les anciennes températures et l'ordre primitif des saisons, par des plantations raisonnées, appuyées de quelques vues sur le ministère que la puissance végétale semble avoir à remplir dans l'harmonie des éléments. Paris : imprimerie de P. Didot l'aîné, 1818. - 2 volumes in-8, 213 x 166: xxxi pp, (2 ff.), 502 pp, illustrated cover; 398 pp, illustrated cover. Paperback, untrimmed. Second edition, entirely revised and enlarged thanks to new observations, of the Harmonie hydro-végétale et météorologique that the author first published in 1802. François Antoine Rauch (1762-1837), a Ponts-et-Chaussées engineer, is considered the founding father of ecological thinking in France. As early as 1802, he was already denouncing the harmful effects of deforestation in Asia, Africa and Europe; in this 1818 edition, he also includes America. He warned against imprudent land clearing in France, which was causing landslides, gullies and desertification. He praises the protective forests of Switzerland, as well as the wooded countryside of Germany and England, insisting on the need to restore mountain forests: "Since time is so slow to reproduce what man has destroyed in an instant (...) let us be docile to the voice of misfortune which cries out to us to replant our ancient mountains with celerity. " Interested in the progress of agriculture, he admires the natural balance in which every living thing plays an essential role: according to him, birds and anteaters are more effective and healthier than "drugs" against insects, while wolves and birds of prey rid the earth of carrion. He is convinced that respect for nature can generate economic benefits, but deplores the fact that none of the many existing schools is devoted to "everything to do with vegetation". Finally, he implores the monarch's benevolence to "raise up and rejuvenate this ancient France, mutilated in its climate, its attractions and its productions." (II, page 364). As-published paperback copy, with full margins and largely uncut. The front covers feature an attractive letterpress frame. Scattered brown spots. Some light spotting in the second volume.