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Book/Printed Material Essay on Paper, Read in the Public Meeting held by Cercle des Philadelphes, August 15, 1788. Dissertation sur le papier, lue dans la séance publique, tenue par le Cercle des Philadelphes, le 15 Août 1788

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About this Item

Title

  • Essay on Paper, Read in the Public Meeting held by Cercle des Philadelphes, August 15, 1788.

Other Title

  • Dissertation sur le papier, lue dans la séance publique, tenue par le Cercle des Philadelphes, le 15 Août 1788

Summary

  • In the second half of the 18th century, the French colony of Saint-Domingue emerged as one of the wealthiest territories in the Western hemisphere. Its economy was heavily based on slave labor and the production of sugar. Cap-Français (present-day Cap-Haïten) was the cultural capital of the colony and one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the Americas. In August 1785 a group of white residents of the city founded the Cercle des Philadelphes, a society whose aim was to elevate the intellectual and cultural level of their colony. In its brief seven-year existence, the society became one of the most prestigious of the colonial learned societies. Its members applied themselves to the study of the physical conditions, natural history, and medicine of the colony, with the goal of promoting improvements in agriculture, manufactures, and the arts and sciences. Presented here is the published version of an essay that was read to the society on August 15, 1788, on the topic of the preservation of paper. The author, Charles Arthaud, was royal physician and head of the society. The essay contains a review of the methods used by different civilizations, including the Egyptian, Roman, Chinese, and pre-Columbian Mexican and Peruvian, to create and preserve a written documentary record, and it offers observations on the types of paper that seemed best able to resist damage and destruction by insects in the tropical climate. The essay concludes by noting the decision of the society to sponsor a competition and to offer a prize to anyone who could succeed in manufacturing in the colony an insect-resistant paper. The book is from Les imprimés à Saint-Domingue (Imprints from Saint-Domingue), a collection held by the Bibliothèque Haïtienne des Pères du Saint-Esprit that includes approximately 150 texts printed in Saint-Domingue before independence in 1804. The books were produced between 1764 and 1804 at presses in Cap-Français, Port-au-Prince, and Les Cayes and were digitized in 2006 with the support of the L'Agence universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF) and the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF).

Names

  • Arthaud, Charles, 1748-1791 Author.
  • Cercle des Philadelphes Author.

Created / Published

  • Port-au-Prince : Mozard, 1788-08-15.

Headings

  • -  Haiti
  • -  1788-08-15
  • -  Cercle des Philadelphes
  • -  Insects
  • -  Paper industry
  • -  Paper--Preservation
  • -  Writing--Materials and instruments

Notes

  • -  Title devised, in English, by Library staff.
  • -  Original resource extent: 24 pages.
  • -  Original resource at: National Archives of Haiti.
  • -  Content in French.
  • -  Description based on data extracted from World Digital Library, which may be extracted from partner institutions.

Medium

  • 1 online resource.

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2021666966

Online Format

  • compressed data
  • pdf
  • image

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

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Credit Line: [Original Source citation], World Digital Library

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Arthaud, Charles, Author, and Cercle Des Philadelphes Author. Essay on Paper, Read in the Public Meeting held by Cercle des Philadelphes. Port-au-Prince: Mozard, -08-15, 1788. Pdf. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021666966/.

APA citation style:

Arthaud, C. & Cercle Des Philadelphes Author. (1788) Essay on Paper, Read in the Public Meeting held by Cercle des Philadelphes. Port-au-Prince: Mozard, -08-15. [Pdf] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2021666966/.

MLA citation style:

Arthaud, Charles, Author, and Cercle Des Philadelphes Author. Essay on Paper, Read in the Public Meeting held by Cercle des Philadelphes. Port-au-Prince: Mozard, -08-15, 1788. Pdf. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2021666966/>.