CHAPTAL (Jean-Antoine). L'Art de faire le vin. Paris: Deterville, 1807. - In-8, 199x124: xix, 382 pp. 1 plate. Marbled calf, smooth spine decorated, red edges (period binding). Oberlé, Les Fastes de Bacchus et de Comus, n°951. - Vicaire, 164. Rare second edition, dedicated to P. C. Laplace, illustrated with a folding plate. "Chaptal had already developed his doctrine on winemaking in 1799, when he wrote the article Vin in Abbé Rozier's Dictionnaire d'Agriculture. Immediately, vineyard owners seized on his work, and scholars such as Cadet de Vaux and Roard published this doctrine with new observations. Armed with all the information provided by those who adopted his principles, Chaptal developed his subject in this treatise, which revolutionized the art of winemaking and was reprinted several times" (Oberlé, Les Fastes de Bacchus et de Comus, no. 951). It is in this edition that we find the first attempt at a theory on the causes of wine diseases. In his article published by Abbé Rozier in 1799, Chaptal spoke of illnesses, but did not attribute specific causes to them. A good copy in contemporary binding. Some wear and tear, wormholes on the hinge of the second plate, corners slightly dulled. Scattered foxing.