Cubières, Simon Louis-Pierre, (1798), Histoire abregee des coquillages de mer, de leurs moeurs, et de leurs amours, De L'Imprimerie de PH-D, Versailles. An VI.
The Abridged history of sea shells: their customs, and their loves, is a small but fine, illustrated book of shells (measuring 19 H x 24 W cm) features 21 illustrations drawn and engraved by RG Gallien, a famous artist of the time. The book is an inventory of current knowledge and research on the topic of conchology with each chapter featuring different shell families (Univalve, Bivalve and Multi-valve). The author, the Marquis de Cubières, who was a naturalist and friend of Louis XVI, possessed a rich private natural history collection, which was used as the source for the illustrations. Each illustration is labelled, with the illustrator Gallien’s name shown at the bottom. All 21 plates are simply beautiful, with particularly stunning images of gastropods such as Rochers (plate 8) and Pourpres (plate 12). Cubieres’ comment about Pourpres refer to the shell’s role in the production of purple dye, a colour worn down the ages by the Phoenicians, Alexander the Great, Roman magistrates, rulers of the Roman and Byzantine empires, Roman Catholic bishops, and emperors, kings and queens of Europe.
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| Plate 8, from Histoire abregee des coquillages de mer, de leurs moeurs, et de leurs amours (Translation: Abridged History of Sea Shells, their customs, and their loves. |
The book opens with a curious Preface entitled ‘Aux Femmes’, which is a letter in which the Marquis de Cubières offers a romantic vision of conchological studies, addressed to women. The Preface dedicates the work to women, ending with “It is for you alone that I undertook this work; and I will find myself well paid, if the story of the shell people, which will be read, may be worth to me a smile of your gratitude.”
An item of interest in the book is its publication date. The book’s title page shows its place of publication to be Versailles, and its publication date to be ‘AN VI’. This date style reflected the newly adopted French Republican Calendar. To mark the advent of the new age of liberty, the revolutionaries replaced, in October 1793, the old Gregorian calendar with a new republican calendar. Henceforth, the year of the official proclamation of the Republic (1792) would become Year One. In this secular calendar, the twelve months of the year were named after natural elements, while each day was named for a seed, tree, flower, fruit, animal, or tool, replacing the saints’-day names and Christian festivals. The Republican calendar was abandoned by Napoleon on January 1, 1806. The publication date of AN VI for this book translates into the period 22 September 1797 to 21 September 1798. This meant that Cubieres wrote and published this work as the French Revolution raged about him.
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| Plate 12, from Histoire abregee des coquillages de mer, de leurs moeurs, et de leurs amours (Translation: Abridged History of Sea Shells, their customs, and their loves. |
This book may not be the most beautiful or spectacular rare book in the Sir Maurice Yonge Collection. In fact, it is quite small and modest in its size and its number of fine illustrations. But to hold in one’s hand a book that was produced during the chaos and brutality of the French Revolution, which then survived to be passed through the hands of so many readers and librarians over the centuries since, is truly a special privilege indeed.
About the author
Simon Louis-Pierre, Marquis de Cubières, brother of Michel de Cubières, was born on October 12, 1747, in Roquemaure (Gard), France, and died on August 10, 1821. He was a squire (or equerry) for Louis XVI and remained devoted to the king and continued to serve him at risk of his own life throughout the years of the French Revolution. Even as the Revolution became more violent and ruthless, Cubières refused to emigrate or leave France, and somehow managed to escape the numerous massacres of the nobility during the Revolution. He was briefly imprisoned in 1794, but was released. Between 1805 and his death in 1821, he frequently stayed at his country house in Larue.
Cubières devoted his hobbies to science and literature, and wrote the Histoire des coquillages de mer, 1799. He also composed poems and comedies, including comedies such as the Charlatan. Passionate about botany, Cubières had a substantial garden at Versailles, and was the neighbour of Marie-Antoinette before and during the Revolution. He published several scientific memoirs through the Agricultural Society of Seine and Oise at Versailles of which he was President.
Suzie Davies, Special Collections Volunteer
James Cook University Library
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Bibliography
Louis Pierre de Cubières. (2017). Wikipédia, l'encyclopédie libre. Page consultée le septembre 10, 2017 à partir de http://fr.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Louis_Pierre_de_Cubi%C3%A8res&oldid=140558616.
Munro, Andrew (2018). The 12 months of the French Republican Calendar, Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 5/7/2018 from https://www.britannica.com/list/the-12-months-of-the-french-republican-calendar
Wikipedia contributors. (2016). Louis Pierre de Cubières. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 24 May 24, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Louis_Pierre_de_Cubi%C3%A8res&oldid=714628172
Wikipedia contributors. (2018). French Republican Calendar. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 4 July, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=French_Republican_Calendar&oldid=846042129
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