PONCELET (Père Polycarpe). Chimie du goût et de l'odorat, ou principes pour composer facilement, & à peu de frais, les liqueurs à boire, & les eaux de senteurs. Paris, P.G. Le Mercier, 1755. In-8, fawn half-calf with corners, spine ribbed with gilt fillets, red marble title page, red edges (contemporary binding). First edition of the author's first work. Father Poncelet was an agronomist and a member of the Récollet order. He acquired a great reputation through his works and experiments on wheat and flour. Divided into four parts, plus a supplement, this treatise is preceded by a Dissertation on the healthiness of liqueurs and the harmony of flavours, in which he develops his theory of the correspondence of the "savoury music" of the seven full tones with the seven "primitive flavours": acid, bland, sweet, bitter, sweet and sour, austere and piquant, and the infinite combinations that can be obtained thanks to them, as he "regards a well understood liqueur as a sort of musical Air, a Composer of Ragoûts, of Confitures, of Ratafiats de Liqueurs, is a Simphonist in his genre". The author deals with distillation, eau de vie, sugar, coffee, tea, cider, blackcurrant, aniseed, absinthe, and simple ratafias of blackcurrant, green walnut, quince, juniper... The fourth part deals with odours, perfumes, essences, and is followed by a rich dictionary. The illustrations include a frontispiece engraved by B. Audran, a head vignette by the same artist, and 6 unsigned intaglio figures. Handwritten bookplate of Madame Vve Tinel.