Premieres leçons sur une partie des sciences et des arts liberaux
A Paris printed by Levrault in 1806, Premières leçons by Nicolas Ransonette is an early instruction book on drawing, perspective, shades and shadows, and artistic anatomy, written for students of the liberal arts. Its plates are engraved technical diagrams: a cylinder and its plan views, figures measured against grid lines, and spiral staircases with construction circles, all of which a designer could use as reference for rendering form and shadow.
