Puymaurin, Jean-Pierre-Casimir de Marcassus, baron de, 1757-1841

Baron Jean-Pierre-Casimir Marcassus de Puymaurin (1757-1841) was a member of a wealthy and distinguished family from Languedoc. He had a lifelong interest in politics, rural economy, manufacturing, and chemical experiments, and was also a noted art collector.

In 1787, Puymaurin introduced into France the technique of engraving on glass using hydrofluoric acid. He was the director of the imperial factory at Albi, a manufacturing town near his home in Toulouse, that specialized in the manufacture of woad indigo and various textile products, including coarse linen clothes, sacking, cottons, tablecloths, and handkerchiefs. He was the first to demonstrate the viability of extracting a dye from woad that equaled the quality of indigo imported from Bengal and Guatemala. He managed to escape notice during the French Revolution, avoiding political involvement until the early nineteenth century. Among the political offices Puymaurin held after 1805, he was named director of the royal mint (la Monnaie Royale des Médailles) in Paris in 1816.

Biographical information derived from acquisition notes.

From the guide to the Receueil d'Observations, 1825-1841, (University of Delaware Library - Special Collections)