Exhibition: the pomology
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Books from the museum’s collections are exceptionally taken out of the reserves and valued in the large library on the theme of the apple: its culture and its uses. Pomology (from Latin pomus, fruit) is a branch of arboriculture specialized in the study, description, identification and classification of pome fruits. This desire for classification and encyclopaedic study is characteristic of the 19th century. Books containing descriptions of fruit trees and their precious fruits, accompanied by colour engravings, are spreading. One of the most famous is La pomologie française de Poiteau, whose chromolithographie plates are true masterpieces. The works presented as A. Truelle’s The Art of Recognizing Apple Press Fruits: Apples & Pears (1893) and Gustave Power’s Traité de la culture du pommier (Volume 2 monograph of the best cider apple varieties) (1893) follow this line. The exhibition also devotes a section to the manufacture of cider by presenting the very first work on the subject - Traité du sidre de Paulmier de 1589 (cider will write one with «c» a century later) - and its successors: Cider, hygienic and medical properties, preparation, chemical preservation and analysis of cider by Eugène Grignon 1887 and Gustave Power’s Traité de la culture du pommier et de la fabrication du cidre. At a time when the ancient varieties of apples and the ancestral technical knowledge associated with its cultivation are sought, these works are valuable allies.