RUMFORD (Benjamin Thomson, Earl of). Political, economic and - Lot 366

Lot 366
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RUMFORD (Benjamin Thomson, Earl of). Political, economic and - Lot 366
RUMFORD (Benjamin Thomson, Earl of). Political, economic and philosophical essays. Geneva, Manget, An VII, 1799. 2 volumes in-8, green half-calf, spine decorated, marbled edges (Binding around 1840). Coquelin and Guillaumin, t. II, p. 562. - Vicaire, col. 760. - Livres en bouche, n°165. First edition of the French translation, decorated with 8 folding plates. Rumford (1753-1814), an American physicist and philanthropist, is mainly known for his soup and his economical stoves, to which he dedicates several chapters in his Essays. It was in Bavaria, where he was for a time a great chamberlain, that the author developed an economical method of making soups to relieve the misery of soldiers and the poor: I have found that the cheapest, most agreeable & most substantial food that can be provided for the poor, is a kind of soup composed of pearl barley, peas, potatoes, small slices of white bread, vinegar, salt & water in certain proportions (p. 206) The Essays can be read as an attempt to link technical considerations, related to the consumption of wood or foodstuffs, with moral and political considerations about the maintenance of social order and integration into civil society. Rumford explained how he had applied this method to integrate into civil society two groups that had been excluded: soldiers and the poor. In both cases, reform began with consumption, which was inseparable from production (Vincent, "Une contre-révolution du consommateur? Count Rumford in Boston, Munich, London and Paris," in History, Economy & Society, 2013/3, pp. 13-32). Small marginal wetness to the last 3 quires of volume I, some foxing. Minor rubbing to the binding, small separation of the skin with a halo at the spine of one volume.
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