What were the cups in the stones for? The explanations on offer in 1886
The Marquis de Nadaillac’s article on cup-marked stones, from the first 1886 issue of Revue d’Anthropologie, is an offprint that went through the post: its wrapper still has a cancelled French stamp.
The story
The Marquis de Nadaillac’s article discusses carved stones with small cup-shaped hollows and the competing explanations of their purpose. It comes with the first 1886 fascicle of Revue d’Anthropologie, directed by Paul Topinard, in its printed green-blue cover. The record places it in the formative period of French prehistoric archaeology and physical anthropology.
The wrapper shows how it travelled. A manuscript Hommage de l’auteur, French for “with the author’s compliments,” sends it out as a gift; a French postage stamp reading POSTES 5c, cancelled, carried it; a diagonal EXTRAIT, the French word for an offprint, says what it is; and a label names the article. Whose hand wrote the formula the record cannot say: the flourish after it has not been securely read as a signature. How the offprint and the journal fascicle relate has not been collated.
Details
- Date
- 1886
- Publisher
- G. Masson, Paris
- Binding
- wrappers: Early pale green printed Revue d’Anthropologie wrappers retained with a buff paper wrapper labeled for the Nadaillac article
- Condition
- Original light blue-green paper wrapper chipped and torn at corners and edges, foxing, creasing, old ink/stamp marks, faded and stained buff outer wrapper with deteriorated stitching/spine; fragile handling required; exact issue collation and order not verified.
- Presentation note
- Hommage de l'auteur [followed by uncertain flourish/initial]
- Stamp
- POSTES 5c [French postage stamp with cancellation]
- Stamp
- EXTRAIT [diagonal stamp/mark on upper corner]
- Label
- Nadaillac - Les Pierres à Cupules
