La machine animale, locomotion terrestre et aérienne

Paris: Germer Baillière, 1873. FIRST EDITION. With 117 text wood engravings. Contemporary gilt and embossed publisher’s cloth, front panel central medallion with title and series, rear panel with publisher’s mark, gilt spine lettering; front cover a bit rubbed and spine a bit sunned, minor toning and foxing. Presentation inscription on the title “à ma chère Mère. Marey.”. Rare first edition of Marey’s pioneer work in the use of serial pictures as a method of studying the mechanics of locomotion. This work was as important as Muybridge’s Animal Locomotion, preceding it by several years. Marey studied the motions of bird and insect wings, concluding that changes in the form of the wing modify its air-resistance properties, thus determining the mechanical requirements for the physiological apparatus of flight. Marey was famous in this period for his invention of accurate recording instruments of unprecedented sensitivity; here he includes numerous fascinating illustrations of scientific devices used to study the movements of humans and animals.

Marey (1830-1904), along with Claude Bernard, was one of the most important nineteenth-century French physiologists. He was a pioneer in the study of blood pressure and the creator of the modern sphygmograph. He established the first private laboratory in Paris for the study of experimental physiology. In 1868 he succeeded Pierre Flourens as chair of natural history at the Coll ge de France. He became the pioneer of cinematography in 1888 when he invented the first modern cin -camera, the use of which he documented in Le Mouvement in 1894, considered to be the first book on cinematography. He was an influence on American motion picture pioneer Edward Muybridge (1830-1904), who used photography to study animal motion.