Moyens de Conserver le Gibier, par la Destruction des Oiseaux de Rapine

Simon, Jean-Baptiste. Moyens de conserver le Gibier, par la destruction des oiseaux de rapine ; Et les Instructions pour y parvenir. Traité de la pipée, Chasse amusante, & divertissante, très-convenable aux Dames. Paris, Veuve Prudhomme, 1738.

12° (16,3 x 10 cm), contemporary full leather binding, gilt decoration and title at compartments, pp. [4 – first blank, recto of second page engraved frontispiece], xxvii, [3], 84, [4], engraved handcoloured frontispiece, original silk bookmark perfectly preserved, red edges.

Hand coloured full page engraving at frontispiece, representing a birds trap, with the Latin motto “Silentio Decipiuntur (Deceived in Silence)”

Only three complete copies of this first edition recorded in worldwide libraries (WorldCat)

Extremely rare treatise on Birds Trapping (pipée) which, as the author specifies in the preface, can be considered the first and most complete popular and informative work on this hunting technique.

This method of hunting, now prohibited and already discussed in Simon's time, is based on the preparation of traps, usually poles leaning against trees, or branches, sprinkled with a sticky substance, towards which a team of beaters lures the birds with decoys.

Simon tries to valorise this hunting method, not considering it only, as it was mainly considered at the time, a fun pastime, perfectly suitable for ladies, but as a very useful hunting method to control the number of birds of prey and therefore preserve bush animals, otherwise destined to be their victims.

Book Structure:

• Hand coloured engraved frontispiece
• Title page
• Preface
• Table of Contents
• Chapter I – On the hunting methods of the “pipée” in general
• Chapter II – On the preparation of the “Glue” for the traps
• Chapter III – How to optimize the glue
• Chapter IV – On Glue in general
• Chapter V – About the best locations to prepare the traps
• Chapter VI – How to choose the tree and how to prepare it
• Chapter VII – Where to hide the hunt beaters
• Chapter VIII – IX How to set up the traps
• Chapter X – About the best time of the day to start the hunting
• Chapter XI – About the decoys in hunting
• Chapter XII – The best season for “pipée”
• Chapter XIII – The best weather to practice Hunting
• Chapter XIV – Which are the birds usually captured with “pipée”
• Chapter XV – How to build a perfect Hunting Team.
• Printing Authorization
• King’s privilege

Simon, Jean-Baptiste (early XVIII century - 1762), was a French Lawyer, member of the Parliament and Royal censor from 1742 to 1762. He was author of works on bees, birds hunting and cosmography.

Census: exceedingly rare edition. Only three copies of this first edition are recorded in Worldcat (plus one imperfect):

• 2 in USA, Yale (imperfect), Berkeley
• 1 in Sweden, Kungliga biblioteket
• 1 in France, BnF.

Conditions: Perfect copy of an exceedingly rare hunting treatise with an important noble provenance and with hand colored illustration.

Provenance: I. From the prestigious Bibliothèque royale de Louis-Philippe au château d’Eu with his ownership stamp at title page. Louis Philippe (6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850) was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, the last King and penultimate monarch of France and Château d'Eu served as his summer residence. II: handwritten shelf location notes at front and back fly leaves.

References:  Thiébaud, 846; Vente de la bibliothèque du Château d’Eu, le 30 décembre 1852 (n°53).