Essai sur Les Moulins à Soie: Et Description d'un Moulin

From the fifteenth century, the silk industry developed in France to rival that of Italy. Taking off during the reign of Henri IV, sericulture was historically centred on Tours and Lyon. In the eighteenth century, attempts were made to introduce it to the north-east of France, to compensate for the decline of viticulture, which had until then represented the region's main economic activity. Agronomist and director of the Royal Academy of Metz, Charles-Bruno Le Payen (1715–82) was the first ...