L'Aluminium et les Métaux Alcalins ....

Paris/Rouen: Lacroix/Brument, 1858. First Edition. 19th century parchment backed boards.. Very good.. 12mo, [4], xii, [1] - 215, [1 - blank] + tinted folding frontispiece and numerous text illustrations.

Oersted, Wohler, and finally Deville were all credited with independently isolating metallic aluminum. Each had a different approach, but Deville's process significantly reduced the cost; however, it still remained an expensive metal. In 1858, two French scholars, Charles and Alexandre Tissier, published the first book about aluminum (offered here). In his 1865 novel From the Earth to the Moon, the French novelist Jules Verne describes the unique properties of aluminum as a symbol of the future. In the 1867 Paris exposition, aluminum sheets, foil and wire, as well as aluminum goods such as helmets and telescopes, were introduced to the general public. Aluminum was a prestige metal in the second half of the nineteenth century, and, based on its light weight combined with good corrosion resistance, it was chosen as cladding material to complete the top of the Washington Monument. See Weeks, Discovery of the Elements, chapter 12.