In early July 2026 I purchased a copy of “Cours de Minéralogie” by A. de Lapparent, and published in 1890 (2nd edition) by Librairie F. Savy (Paris).
Albert de Lapparent (1839-1908) was a French geologist. Lapparent was already one of France’s leading geologists after publishing his Traité de géologie. I bought this book in part because it was his university textbook rather than a research monograph.
The book has 598 in-text engravings and 1 chromolithograph plate.
The format is a grand in-octavo, slightly larger than the standard octavo.
The mention “in-8” is a traditional book format produced by folding a printer’s sheet three times to create 8 leaves (16 pages).
The mention of ” bound ½” normally means that the spine and corners are covered in leather, while the boards are covered with another material, usually marbled paper or cloth.
The reference to “green chagrin” means Chagrin which originally referred to a rough-grained leather, historically made from donkey, horse, shark or ray skin. By the late 19th century, in French bookbinding, it usually meant a finely grained goatskin or sheepskin embossed to imitate shagreen. It was a durable and attractive leather often used by binders.
“Spine ribbed” means raised bands on the spine. The spine has raised horizontal bands (called nerfs in French). Historically these covered the sewing cords, but by the 19th century they were often decorative as well. The title and author are embossed on the spine.
This would not have been the publisher’s original binding. It almost certainly indicates that a private owner had the book professionally rebound in a stronger and more attractive half-leather binding. Such rebinding was very common for scientific reference books that saw heavy use.
I bought this book at an auction house for €20. I would have paid more, and the auction description said “Scattered foxing, otherwise a very fine copy”.
Foxing refers to small brown, yellow, or reddish-brown spots that develop on the paper over time. The spots may be pinhead-sized, irregular in shape, isolated or clustered, and found on a few pages or throughout the book.
They are usually caused by moisture or high humidity, tiny particles of iron left in the paper during manufacture, and/or fungal activity (historically thought to be the main cause, although modern research suggests several mechanisms).
For books printed between about 1850 and 1920, foxing is extremely common because much of the paper contained impurities and was stored under less-than-ideal conditions.
“Scattered foxing” just means the foxing is occasional, light, confined to certain pages, and not present throughout the book.
Normally the auction house would have mentioned other defects if present, such as missing or torn pages, major stains, poor binding and/or hinges, water damage, and serious wear.
“A very fine copy” is a condition assessment. There is no universal standard, but collectors generally interpret it as “exceptionally well preserved” (for their age). Unusually “Fine” would suggest almost as issued. “Near Fine” might have one tiny fault, whereas “Good” would suggest normal wear.
Considering that this book is over a century old and was intended for regular academic use, it is a very desirable copy. €20 is comfortably below its market value, although the topic is high specialised.
