LAVOISIER Antoine-Laurent de Traité élémentaire de Chimie, présenté dans un ordre nouveau d’après les découvertes modernes.

Duveen et Klickstein, 154;  En français dans le texte, 184 ; PMM, 238; Horblit, 64.

First edition, second printing (only a few copies of the first printing are known to exist).

Le Traité élémentaire, regarded as the first modern chemistry textbook, presents a unified view of the new chemical theories. It provides a clear account of the law of conservation of mass and refutes the existence of phlogiston.

Lavoisier clarifies the concept of an element as a simple substance that cannot be broken down by any known method of chemical analysis, and devises a theory of the formation of chemical compounds from elements.

His work contains a list of the 23 elements (also called ‘substances’) that could not be broken down further, including oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, phosphorus, mercury, zinc and sulphur.

“This book accomplished a chemical revolution” (PMM)

Thirteen plates illustrate the volumes and depict various instruments and experiments. They were engraved by Marie-Anne Pierrette Paulze, the chemist’s wife and assistant.

Previous paper restoration on the last leaf of Volume I.