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Photo [MANUSCRIT] MAHOT, Maurice. 

Original manuscript of an unpublished botanical treatise by a learned scholar from Nantes.
It presents botanical concepts as well as the classifications of Linnaeus and Tournefort. This manuscript, nearly 200 pages long, is written on the verso of the plates from Buc'hoz’s Flore Lorraine.
All plates are also annotated with details on plant names, their classification according to Linnaeus and Tournefort, and their medicinal uses—together forming a true pharmacopoeia.
These 187 plates were intended to illustrate Buc'hoz’s Traité historique des plantes qui croissent dans la Lorraine et les Trois-Évêchés, published in ten octavo volumes between 1762 and 1770. The plates, originally issued separately in installments and designed to be folded and bound in octavo, are gathered here in a single folio volume.
Buc'hoz, known for the beauty of his plates, had solicited financial support from fellow countrymen and botany enthusiasts for the production of these engravings. Thus, at the bottom of almost every plate, one finds the coat of arms and name of the sponsor who funded it.
Maurice Mahot, the author of this manuscript, sponsored plate 152.
While biographical information on Maurice Mahot “the elder” (1745–1810), a royal counselor, civil and criminal judge at the présidial, alderman (1777), and deputy mayor of Nantes (1779), offers little indication of an interest in natural sciences and botany, the same cannot be said of his son, Maurice Mahot “the younger” (1774–1842), a doctor of medicine and scholar who published several books on medicine and lexicography.
The annotations by the son—a physician—on the plates funded by the father—a botany enthusiast—explain the numerous pharmaceutical and medical recipes found in the work.
Another collector has left his name on the title page: Silas Boucher de la Ville Jossy, a member of a prominent Nantes family in the mid-19th century.
A fascinating manuscript, still largely unexplored, of exceptional character, both for the beauty of its annotated plates and for its content, which intertwines botanical classification and pharmacopoeia.

Photo [SCIENCES]. 

Interesting set of working documents of a Scienfitic Society from Marseille in the 18th century.
At the beginning of the eighteenth century two projects of a foundation of a Marseille Academy clashed, the first wanted to devote himself solely to Sciences, the second on the model of the French Academy, wanted to focus on Letters. It is the second project supported by the governor of Provence which won the support of Louis XV and the Academy of Belles-Lettres de Marseille was founded in 1726. It was only in a second time, in 1766, that it will open up to Sciences and the Arts.
We imagine the dismay of Marseilles scientists during the interval, and it is probably this frustration which is at the origin of the creation of the Société des Sciences de Marseille of which we present some documents here.
Lot consisting of 6 pieces:
- 3 transcripts of speeches, one of which addresses the question of the rules of the "Academy" which excluded the religious. It offers openness to abbots and monks, those with interest libraries, but seeking a solution that avoids animosities between the different orders.
- Speech by the perpetual secretary summarizing the work of the Academy during the period 1739-1740.
- Work report: Geometry of Mr Gérard, Mechanics of Mr De Pontis.
- Bundle of 10 tickets, "Tasks of the Academicians for 1741": Each academician offers on a small autograph ticket signed the scientific work they undertake to address during the year 1741. We find the names of Ganteaume, De Pontis , Pelissery, Gérard, Saint-Jacques, Roussin.

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