SOCIÉTÉ D'ENCOURAGEMENT POUR L'INDUSTRIE NATIONALE


Bulletin de la Société d'encouragement pour l'industrie nationale. [First Series] Première [-quarante-deuxième] année, vol. 1-42 bound in 27 vol., numerous engraved plates throughout (mostly folding), occasional foxing and browning, some plates with oxidisation, uniformly bound in contemporary half calf, gilt panelled spines with brown morocco labels, 4 or 5 volumes slightly damaged with loss to foot of spine or covers, 4to, Paris, Mme. Huzard [-Mme. veuve Bouchard-Huzard], 1803-1845, sold as a periodical
|Rare complete run of the first 43 volumes of the Bulletin of the Société d'encouragement pour l'industrie nationale, covering the years 1802-1843. Taking its inspiration from Royal Society of Arts in England, the Society was established in 1801 with the aim of encouraging and improving French industry. Within a few weeks of its opening meeting, some 900 subscribers were signed up, including Napoleon who paid for 100 of the subscriptions.The bulletins contain reports and illustrations covering all aspects of science, manufacturing, the arts and industry by the principal French inventors and innovators of the period, including the likes of Daguerre, Niépce, Robert-Houdin, Jacquard and Appert. The reports include Baron P. A. Séguier's 'Description d'un appareil photographique simplifié et portatif', with a folding diagram of the world's first bellows camera (Year 39, no. 429), and an account of Thomas de Colmar's Arithmometer, the first mass produced calculator, which was used in government, banks and insurance worldwide (Year 21, no. 212).