RAUCH (François Antoine) Régénération de la nature végétale, ou recherches sur les moyens de recréer, dans tous les climats, les anciennes températures et l'ordre primitif des saisons, par des plantations raisonnées, appuyées de quelques vues sur le ministère que la puissance végétale semble avoir à remplir dans l'harmonie des éléments. Paris: imprimerie de P. Didot l'aîné, 1818. - 2 volumes in-8, blond half-calf, spine ribbed and decorated, untrimmed (period binding). Second edition, entirely revised and enlarged thanks to recent observations, of the "Harmonie hydro-végétale et météorologique" that the author published in 1802. François Antoine Rauch (1762-1837) was a Ponts-et-chaussées engineer and is recognized as the founding father of French ecological thought. In 1802, he was already denouncing the effects of deforestation in Asia, Africa and Europe; in the 1818 edition, he also included America. He warned against imprudent land clearing in France, leading to landslides, gullies and desertification. He praises the protective forests of Switzerland and the wooded countryside of Germany and England, and expresses the need to restore mountain forests: "Since time is so slow to reproduce what man has destroyed in an instant (...) let us be docile to the voice of misfortune which cries out to us to replant our ancient mountains with celerity. "Interested in the progress of agriculture, he admires the natural balance in which every living thing plays a crucial role: in his view, birds and anteaters are more effective and healthier than "drugs" in combating insects, while wolves and birds of prey clear the land of carrion. He is convinced that respect for nature can generate economic benefits, but deplores the fact that none of the many existing schools is dedicated to "everything to do with vegetation". Finally, he appeals to the monarch's benevolence to "raise and rejuvenate this ancient France, mutilated in its climate, its attractions and its productions" (II. page 364). A good copy in contemporary binding, from the library of Château de Bois-Boudran, owned in the 19th century by the Counts Greffulhe, among whom was the aristocrat Henry Greffulhe (1848-1932), Marcel Proust's model for the Duc de Guermantes. Some minor wear and tear. Light spotting on the first leaves of volume 1 and in the lower right-hand corner of the leaves of volume 2. Provenance: Bibliothèque de Bois Boudran, with ex-libris. Attached, by the same author, the first volume of the original 1802 edition: - HARMONIE HYDRO-VÉGÉTALE ET MÉTÉOROLOGIQUE, ou recherches Sur les moyens de recréer avec nos forêts la force des températures et la régularité des saisons, par des plantations raisonnées. Dedicated to the First Consul. Paris : les frères Levrault, An X de la République. - In-8, blue half-chagrin, smooth spine, speckled edges (late 19th-century binding). Edition illustrated with a frontispiece depicting the author and Bonaparte, with this caption: "La France régénérée vous demande à recréer cette belle nature sur toute sa surface." Some rubbing to spine. Corrosion on title, with note erroneously stating that this is the only volume published.