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'S.B.' [?] and CLEMENTINE : 1830s SUPERB ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT BOOKS [2] AND HANDWRITTEN STUDY HIGHLIGHTING THE STATE OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN FRANCE IN THE EARLY 19TH CENTURY

Folio - over 12" - 15" tall. On offer is a superb, original pair [2] of 1830s manuscript journals of multi discipline subjects including; cosmography, mythology, navigation and exploration of the New World, ancient lore, history of powerful monarchies, an extensive history of France from ancient times to the Napoleon Bonaparte era etc all undoubtedly of an advanced level of study hand written by an unidentified student save, we believe, for the initials 'S.B.' in early 19th Century France. The treasured, large folio volumes, on fine watermarked paper comprised of some different sized text blocks, assembled between hard covers with lovely marbleized endpapers is titled on the spine: 'Melanges' and true to the name the books are chock a block with just over 500 pages of comprehensive notes, charts, illustrations etc making for an enormous compilation on the state of the subject's knowledge at the time. The books are representative of what is arguably the pinnacle of World class education as France could boast some of the finest educators and educational institutions of the modern World in the 19th Century and these books reflect that state: very broad in scope, they are arranged by Century, the subjects are anything from Adam and Eve, the human psyche, the four ages of man to Protestantism to the Ancients: Epaminondas, Rhadamille and Zénobie to such luminaries as Louise d'Orléan, the English Duke of Berwick, Marguerite de Valois, Cleopatra, Saladin the Sultan of Egypt, Diocletian and the death of Henry III. General Geography is over 23 pages. Volume I dated 1830 - 31 begins with Cosmography, Mythology, Enigmatic Historic Episodes, Geography. (Cosmographie, 1e et 2e Cahier d'Enigmes Zénobie Curcas 1830, Géographie.) The first subject, Cosmography, begins with the lightning rod invented by Benjamin Franklin in Pennsylvania in 1749 (pannoterre in French) continues for 57 pages. The Planets, lunar eclipses, the ancient civil Egyptian calendar, atmospheric precipitation and other natural phenomenon, etymology of Gregorian calendar months, a summary of the zodiac, geographic coordinates of the globe, wind patterns, solar cycles, stars, meteorites, constellations and solstices comprising the sum total of knowledge regarding cosmography up to that time. Another extensive section titled "Extrait de l'Histoire Universelle" is an historical sketch of civilization starting with Creation and summarizing Biblical people groups such as the Philistines, the Jews, the Amalekites, the Egyptians, so forth. [There is a 27 page section in a different hand, presumably a younger sibling, identified as Clémentine and titled "Analyses Clémentine" being a grammatical exercise: an historic synopsis is summarized vertically in the left margin, each word adjacently being identified for its word class, conjugation, etc.] Volume II dated 1831-32 begins with Navigators, Voyages Around the Principle Provinces of America, History of France, History of England, Ancient Macedonian Races, and much more. (Voyages des Navigateurs, Voyages dans les principales provinces de l'Amérique, Histoire de France, Histoire d'Angleterre, Histoires des Macedoines, [etc.] Cahier d'histoire à Zénobie Curcas. Le 23 Août 1832.) The biographies include Vasco de Gama, Christopher Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci, Ferdinand Magellan, William Parry, Louis de Freycinet, and La Perouse. Adding superb depth there are hand drawn coastlines as discovered by important navigators over time, the first being New France and charting principal cities from Newfoundland to Louisiana. Another section charts a journey intra Mexico to Santa Fe to Los Angeles, then Chihuahua, Durango, Chapala, and Valladolid in the Yucatan. A third chart starts where the second ended, in the Yucatan, charting a voyage to Cuba, Jamaica, Honduras, Nicaragua, and finally Cartagena in Colombia. The same is performed for the coasts of South America, and Africa, the latter being divided into several regions, one of which is a "voyage in the interior of Africa" which crosses the ancient Kingdoms of Egypt and Nubia north to south. This section on navigation is 33 pages. There are descriptions of Turkey, Greece and France [Gaul] and inhabited by Celtic tribes, the ancient races of Macedonia, Rome, Greece and Portugal and a comprehensive historical sketch of France throughout various epochs, beginning with the Middle Ages, and concluding with Napoleon's rule until 1815. Historic moments of many French cities are recorded and compact biographies of the monarchs beginning with Louis VI (1081 - 1137), through the Ancien Régime to Henry VI and his Bourbon dynasty, continuing with the Reformation and King Louis XIV who revoked the Edict of Nantes in 1685, the French Revolution a century later, major campaigns of Napoleon Bonaparte, and concluding with the death of Louis XVIII 16 September 1824. North American events such as the expansion of French colonies during reign of Louis XIV, the Treaty of Paris in 1763 which ceded French colonies to the English, Louis XVI in American Revolutionary War for Independence and his execution in 1793. Charts and lists then compare kings, governments, battles, and so forth. This section is 150+ pages in five parts bound back to front. The 13 x 8¼ inch books have quarter calf over red boards, gilt lined and titled 'Melanges' to spine, marbled endpapers. The covers are rubbed, the leather chipped in spots but overall G+.. Manuscript. Book Condition: Good+

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