Pierre-Joseph Amoreux of Montpellier was a Linnaean naturalist,
agronomist and bibliographer whose adult life spanned the last
decades of the ancien regime, the French Revolution, the age of
Napoleon and the Restoration. Thanks to his many publications and
contacts, he was a well-known figure in his own day, not just in
the Midi but in Paris and beyond. His autobiography, published here
for the first time along with a substantial introduction, provides
the fullest first-person account of the life of a provincial man of
science during this tumultuous period of France's history. Before
the French Revolution, Amoreux used his Montpellier base and the
new prize-essay contest to become a renowned and respected figure
in the multi-centred Republic of Letters. Post-Revolution, when
French science became exclusively centred on Paris, he succeeded in
relaunching his scientific career through frequent visits to the
capital where he cultivated the leading lights of the Institut and
the Jardin des plantes. Laurence Brockliss opens this volume by
providing an in-depth analysis of the context of Amoreux's life and
work, based on his surviving letters, printed and manuscript books
and articles, and his autobiographical Souvenirs. Amoreux emerges
as a driven, often ruthless, man of science, wealthy enough to
devote the majority of his life to his intellectual pursuits, keen
to retain his independence, and more interested in worldly success
than he pretended. The following fully annotated transcription of
Amoreux's Souvenirs provides an unparalleled insight into the world
of the minor intellectual in the Age of Enlightenment and
Revolution, where success or failure could turn on the whims of
publishing fashion and the vagaries of the postal service. The
Souvenirs also offer novel access to the vibrant underbelly of
intellectual life in early nineteenth-century Paris as Amoreux
introduces us to a little-known world of libraries, museums,
booksellers, collectors, nurserymen and dealers.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
