Maladies de la vigne
¥93,200 JPY
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¥93,200 JPY
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Sulfur enters the vineyard as a remedy, and travels across Europe in a few months. With provenance
Bonnel, Bennoit
Maladies de la vigne
Procédés contre l'oïdium et autres maladies de la vigne.
1855, Narbonne, Imprimerie de Caillard
First Edition
¥93,200 JPY
Sale price
¥93,200 JPY
Regular price
Overview
In 8vo. Pp. [1] f.e., [2], 68, [1] r.e.
Printed as the "Complément du Mémoire" to an earlier submission on vine disease, this important pamphlet belongs to the first practical literature of the oidium crisis in French viticulture, and contributed to the contributed to spreading knowledge of the remedy throughout Europe. Bonnel writes as a local observer in the Narbonnais, and addresses his findings to the Minister of Agriculture in the official language of remedial experiment and rural administration. The date matters: in 1855, two years after Heuzé's ministerial report, sulfur was passing from proposed treatment to demonstrated practice against the fungus that had damaged vineyards across southern France. The tract answers that moment from within an affected wine region, converting vineyard observation into a form suitable for circulation beyond the locality. Taken whole, it is a concise record of pre-phylloxera disease management. As a prof of its importance and circulation in Europe: the Bulletin de la Société d'Encouragement pour l'Industrie Nationale, records an award to Bonnet of 500-franc in a competition on vine disease, subsequently quoting this work. The book and the author "Benito" Bonnel are mentioned also in the Gaceta de Madrid of Sept. 30, 1855, where his remedy for oidium is summarized. Last but not least The Economist in 1856 discusses the demonstrated success of sulfur treatment and mentions Bonnel of Narbonne.
Inside the book
The book proceeds through titled sections rather than numbered chapters. It opens with Rougeot, a discoloration and withering of the vine that Bonnel links to oidium, writing that it "se rattache essentiellement à l'Oïdium" (is essentially connected to Oidium) and rises or recedes with it. The next section treats the Altise bleue, Haltica ampelophaga, the blue flea beetle. Bonnel notes its sudden disappearance across much of the Narbonnais and attributes the effect to the sulfur treatments used against the fungus, where fumigation and surface application also suppress the insect. The observation is empirical rather than theoretical, and its interest lies in the unintended double action of a remedy aimed at one enemy and found to check another. "Reprise de l'Oïdium" considers the possible return of the disease and concludes that sulfur remains the only proven treatment. The final section, on Coulure, or failure of fruit set, discusses bud-pinching as a means of redirecting sap toward the grape cluster, with attention to vine posture and air circulation.
Condition
19th century half-cloth binding; printed paper label to the spine that appears to be taken from the original wrappers. Paper lightly toned. Ex-libris Friedrich von Bassermann-Jordan (1872-1959), German wine estate owner, viticultural pioneer, and the most influential wine historian of his era, author of Geschichte des Weinbaus, which is the wine library of record for German viticultural history. Ink stamp to the title page with same provenance. Fine.
Dimensions (inches): 6 3/4 x 4 1/4 x 1/8
Why La Fenice likes it
A pamphlet written from inside the crisis, just as sulfur stopped being an experiment and became a weapon. Bonnel observes in the vineyards of the Narbonnais and reports to the Minister of Agriculture that the blue flea beetle has virtually disappeared after the vines were treated for oidium. One remedy, two enemies - and this little local tract traveled! A 500-franc award from the Société d'Encouragement, a summary in Madrid that September, a mention in "The Economist" the following year: Paris, Madrid, London in eighteen months. Our guy Bonnel was the man of the hour.
About the author
Benoît Bonnel, Narbonnais observer of vine diseases and oidium treatments.
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