ALLIER. Pascal JOURDAN (Bagnols-sur-Cèze 1835-1881), botanis - Lot 224

Lot n° 224
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ALLIER. Pascal JOURDAN (Bagnols-sur-Cèze 1835-1881), botanis - Lot 224
ALLIER. Pascal JOURDAN (Bagnols-sur-Cèze 1835-1881), botanist and engineer, member of the Société Botanique de France; author of a Flore de Vichy with a preface by George Sand (1872); he also herborized in Algeria. 10 autograph letters signed to botanist Gaetano Durando (1811-1892), Algiers. 37 pp. in-8, headed with handsome vignettes of the Source des Célestins in Vichy [he was "régisseur des travaux de l'État à la source des Célestins"] and the Établissement thermal de Vichy. Vichy and Guéret, 1870-1873. Very interesting correspondence to the former companion of his Algerian herborizations, on the Célestins spring and his Flore de Vichy. "[...] I am writing to you from Vichy, as I have been there for nearly 4 months on a special mission to carry out mining work and research the Célestins mineral springs [...]. I was certain that the Célestins naiad would be favourable to me, but I thought that we would only find water in abundance in 5 or 6 months from now; success came sooner, for at the same time as I am telling you about the mission, I have come to announce that a few days ago, a mine blast gave rise to a magnificent jet of mineral water, the strong pressure of which gave me a happy fright at the moment when I was trying to measure the said mine hole with the mine workers : Judge, my dear friend, by figures, the great significance of my find, and if I should be pleased: the Célestins spring had diminished, last year's drinkers could not be satisfied, when the State had decided that work would be done; the two small springs together give one liter of mineral water per minute and the one I have just found gives more than a cubic meter per hour, at least seventeen liters per minute, by the first gauging! Drinkers from all over the world can now come to Les Célestins, and there'll be no shortage of mineral water! This success galvanized him, and he set himself a new challenge. "No one (?) has ever given anything on the plants of Vichy, and I'm working hard to collect all the material for a small Vichy Flora, which will be a good fortune for botanists passing through here [...]. I've written about 3 volumes, and I think my Flore de Vichy will be published before the water season, i.e. at the beginning of May. I have a serious publisher here. There will be plates, etc., the book will be polished and I'll send it to you. This same publisher is currently publishing a Carte géologique du bassin de Vichy (within a radius of 5 to 6 leagues), which has been requested by foreigners for 10 or 15 years, and which has never been published [...]. The preface by G. Sand, my illustrious neighbor, is a masterpiece, and it is the best thing that has happened to me in my life to have been judged by her, who is so difficult from a literary point of view [...]". Enclosed: - a subscription prospectus for the Flore de Vichy (4 pp. in-8, 1872). - 4 wedding, birth and death announcements - a copy of L'Écho de la Creuse, including an article on his Flore de Vichy.
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