{"product_id":"antique-french-mushroom-field-guide-nouvelle-flore-des-champignons-1907","title":"Antique French Mushroom Field Guide Nouvelle Flore des Champignons 1907","description":"\u003ch2\u003eA Naturalist's Pocket Flora of French Mushrooms, Paris 1907\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePeriod:\u003c\/strong\u003e Early twentieth century. Fourth edition, dated 1907.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 7 x 4.5 x 0.75 inches\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA small French field guide to mushrooms, built to be carried into the woods and consulted on the spot. The text moves through branching identification keys, each fork illustrated in the margin with a tiny wood-engraved mushroom so the reader can match what is in hand to what is on the page. There are 4702 of these figures in all, packed across pages that have warmed to a deep honey tone over more than a century. At the front, a folding plate lays out forty-two named colors beside their printed symbols, a working reference for describing a cap or a gill with precision. The blue grey publisher's boards carry the title printed directly on the cover, worn soft at the edges in the way a book gets when it has actually been used.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eHistorical Context\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Nouvelle Flore des Champignons was written by Julien Costantin, professor at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle and a member of the Académie des Sciences, with Léon Dufour of the botanical laboratory at Fontainebleau. It appeared as part of the influential Bonnier and de Layens Nouvelle Flore series, a family of pocket floras that brought rigorous botanical identification to amateurs and students at the turn of the century. The conceit of the series was ease of determination, the idea that anyone with patience and the little keys could name a wild specimen without a laboratory. This edition was honored by the Académie des Sciences and expanded with supplements covering species newly recorded in France, which places it at the confident height of the French natural history publishing tradition.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eStyling Ideas\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a book that earns its place open rather than shelved. Set it on a stand with the color plate unfolded to show the soft grid of named hues, or leave it splayed to one of the key pages where the marginal mushrooms read almost as botanical pattern. It sits naturally among foraging baskets, pressed botanicals, and brass scientific instruments, and the muted blue grey of the cover is an easy companion to linen and unglazed pottery. A quiet, intelligent object for a kitchen, a study, or a cabinet of natural curiosities.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eCondition\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSold in good antiquarian condition with honest signs of age, and somewhat fragile, so it asks to be handled gently. The publisher's blue grey boards are worn soft at the corners and edges, and as the spine photos show, the binding is tender along the joints. The front inner hinge is cracked with the gauze backing visible, though the text block still holds together. Pages are uniformly toned to a warm honey from the original inexpensive paper, as is typical of these field guides. The folding color plate is present and bright, and all of the illustrated keys are clean and legible. This is a book to display and turn the pages of with a little care rather than carry, and it has earned its wear honestly.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"foundresse","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56646351716518,"sku":null,"price":98.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0637\/7645\/6870\/files\/IMG_5083.jpg?v=1781287378","url":"https:\/\/foundresse.com\/products\/antique-french-mushroom-field-guide-nouvelle-flore-des-champignons-1907","provider":"foundresse","version":"1.0","type":"link"}