Bernard Palissy - Oeuvres de Bernard Palissy [alchimie] - 1777-1777

Ruault, Paris, 1777.
Full calf from the period, back with five nerves bearing the title piece, red edges, one quarto volume, (4), ix-lxxvi, 734 pages. Faded binding with a leather loss at the bottom of the spine, rounded corners. The first collective edition of the Works of Bernard Palissy, as always without the portrait, dedicatory epistle to Franklin.
His texts on alchemy include 'Metals and Alchemy' and 'Drinking Gold,' but also cover agriculture, geology, botany, ceramics, embalming, engineering, hydrology, medicine, metallurgy, meteorology, mineralogy, paleontology, philosophy, physics, toxicology, and zoology. Palissy is recognized for his work in preparing enamels applied to pottery, but above all, he was one of the first scientists to advocate for the experimental method and to prioritize it over theory.