A superb illustrated mycological field notebook , comprising 102 handwritten and illustrated pages, created between 1915 and 1916. It contains a great many meticulously identified and drawn mushrooms , annotated, and often enhanced with watercolor: Boletus chrysenteron , Amanita rubescens , Hypholoma fasciculare , Lepiota procera , Psilocybe , etc. The notebook combines scientific rigor with artistic flair, featuring detailed descriptions of shapes, colors, anatomical sections, and field observations. Some pages also include studies of plants or small mammals, such as a wood mouse.
This natural history work, worthy of the finest scientific herbaria, is signed by Dr. LESQ, adjutant in the 212th Regiment, then stationed in postal sector 136, covering the Meuse and the Argonne. It is therefore a unique document, written at the heart of the front, in the vicinity of Flabas, Vauquois, or Varennes, during the First World War.
✦ Origin: France, Meuse / Argonne
✦ Estimated period: 1915–1916
✦ Dimensions: 17 × 10 cm (closed)
✦ Material: Laid paper, cloth-covered cardboard binding
✦ Contents: 102 handwritten and/or illustrated pages
✦ Condition: Good overall condition, typical foxing, drawings intact, solid binding
An extremely rare piece of wartime mycology – a highly detailed field study manuscript, ideal for natural history collectors, mycologists, museum curators, or collectors of World War I (WW1) memorabilia.
