BOOKS ON ARCHITECTURE

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Transcribed version of the text

French

     Jean Bernard's book contains most of what we know about him. The "Extrait des Registres du Parlement", dated April 30, 1621, specifies that he is "Prestre, Chappelain en la Saincte Chappelle du Roy à Dijon". He presents himself as a man who, in order to assure his function as steward "en l’administration & gouvernement de [la] cellerie, à la recepte des vins", has acquired knowledge of "arpenterie" and the maintenance and repair of buildings, thanks to the study of books on geometry and architecture. One learns that he delights in reading the "bons Autheurs d'Architecture" and that he is preparing "principes d'Architecture", or "conseil à ceux qui veullent bastir". But the Sauvegarde pour ceux qui craignent la fumée, published by the Dijon printer Claude Guyot, seems to be his only book.
If Jean Bernard was the first to publish in France a book specifically dedicated to smoky fireplaces, he was in fact dealing with a question interesting many during his period which, as he emphasizes himself, preoccupied several great architects. He quotes Philibert de l'Orme and his tin air-holes, "Serlio & les Italiens" who top off their chimney stacks with "chapiteaux comme des lanternes" and the new Dijon-style chimney stacks "à la Capussine" pierced with holes like a dovecote. However this small octavo book is not a "spécialisé" book of architecture, comparable to the many appearing at the beginning of the 18^th century (Nicolas Gauger La Mécanique du feu, 1713). Rather it is related to the books "d'inventions" and as such perhaps close to the translation of the essay of François Kaeslar (Keslar), published two years earlier in Oppenheim by Jean-Théodore de Bry (Epargne bois, c’est à dire, Nouvelle et par ci-devant non commune, ni mise en lumiere, invention de certains et divers fourneaux artificiels… maintenant publiée en François, 1619).
In his headword, Jean Bernard states that he wants to "imiter les Medecins" by first dealing with the properties of fire and of smoke, then with the "remède" to bring "guerison aux malades". His "secret" lies "en trois mots": construct chimney flues in the shape of funnels, wider at the top than at the bottom. But the book is not devoted only to smoke. Like many inventors, the author suggests several improvements derived from his rule: a wine extractor to protect oneself from "valets et chambrières" who were lovers of fine wines, a new funnel to facilitate "l'entonnage" of liqueurs and oils, and downspouts, obviously wider at the bottom than at the top. He devotes many pages to showing the scientific foundations of his inventions. One learns that human organs- from the nostrils to the sexual organs- function according the principle of his new fireplaces, that nothing is really ever plumb or level, that nature abhors a vacuum, or even what happens to a bullet fired from a musket pointed straight up.
Jean Bernard describes his difficulties to persuade the learned and the ignorant of the "experiences & demonstrations oculaires […] palpables" necessary to convince the former and the negociations to convince the latter, masons, to construct glazed walls, according to the rules, therefore, contrary to the principle of the plumb line imposed by the "loix, statuts & ordonnances" of the "privilèges de maistrise". With the abolition of the "maîtrises" in 1619 and 1620 he was incited to publish his procedure perfected in 1616.
The book, composed of 96 leaves of text without illustrations, is not always clear in its descriptions, which could explain its limited circulation. The Dictionnaire de bibliographie by Etienne Psaume (1824) designates it as rare. If Jean Bernard is quoted in several dictionaries and encyclopedias of industrial engineering, it seems that few authors have really read his text. Only Louis Savot (L’Architecture Françoise des bastimens particuliers, 1624) and Pierre Hébrard (Caminologie ou traité des cheminées, 1756) give a faithful account of his invention. Most restrict themselves to copying a list made by Savot of all the methods invented since Vitruvius to prevent fireplaces from smoking. Bernard appears in this list with his "molinets de fer blanc", an invention whose disadvantages he does not deny. The "complément" to his book, published in 1646 by Jean Valon, canon of the Saint-Chapelle (Adjonction aux livres intitulés Sauve-Garde du Feu et de la Fumée, contenant un expédient pour empêcher que la fumée ne soit renvoyée par le vent, la pluye, la neige et la chaleur du soleil, Palliot, 1646), even rarer, did not manage to earn him celebrity.

Valérie Nègre (École d'architecture de Paris La Villette, Paris) – 2009

Critical bibliography

M. H. Clément-Janin, Les imprimeurs et les libraires dans la Côte d’Or, Geneva, Slatkine reprints, 1971, pp. 20-24 (1^st ed.: Dijon, 1883).