Jean Mayer, director of the gardens of the Grand Duke of Wurtzburg, Bavaria, in his 'Pomona franconica' published in 1801 showed that the petit-Muscat was the antique pear Superba described by Pliny. Various other pomologists wrote of it prior to Mayer as for instance Jacq. Dalechmp, 1615; Jean Jonston, 1662; and Henri Manger, 1783. Charles Estienne was the first to write of it in France, 1530, and he named it Musquette. Fruit very small, turbinate, more or less obtuse and sometimes globular-turbinate; the eye is placed in a regular-formed cavity and is always naked in consequence of the segments of the calyx falling off, pale greenish-yellow, finely dotted and slightly clouded with rose on the side of the sun (in France); flesh yellowish, semi-fine, breaking, not very juicy, sugary, acidulous and with a pleasant musk flavor; second; June. -- U.P. Hedrick, The Pears of New York, 1921.Little Muscat. France. One of the earliest of all pears. Synonyms: Chiot, Little Musk, Little Bastard Musk, Muscat Petit, Muscat Robert, Petit Muscat, Petit Musk, Primitive, Sept-en-gueule, Supreme. -- Ragan. Nomenclature of the Pear, 1908.
Little Muscat. (of Robert Thompson, 1842; George Lindley, 1831; Philip Miller, 1819). Little Musk, Primitive, and Petit Muscat (of Coxe), Muscat petit and Sept-en-gueule (of Duhamel, 1768). This very little, French pear, well known in many of our gardens, is allowed a place there, chiefly, because it is the earliest of all pears, ripening at the beginning of July. The tree is of very handsome, pyramidal growth, and bears the most enourmous crops of pears, in clusters. The fruit, which is but little more than an inch in diameter, is shaped like a little rounded top, and is just passably good at its season. Fruit very small, turbinate. Skin yellow, with a dull red cheek. Stalk half, to one and a half inches long, set almost without depression. Calyx open, set nearly level. Flesh breaking, sweet, with a slight musk flavour. Shoots dark brown. -- A.J. Downing, The fruits and fruit trees of America, 1846.
Petit Muscat. This pear grows in clusters; the form is round rather than long; the stalk short, and when fully ripe the skin is yellow, with a portion of reddish brown on the cheek next the sun. If not too ripe, it is a pleasant pear; the juice somewhat musky - the form of the tree resembles the Catherine; it does not produce fruit early; but when it has attained the proper age is an abundant bearer it ripens from the first to the tenth of July. -- W. Coxe, A view of the cultivation of fruit trees, 1817.
Petit Muscat. This pear ripens immediately after the above ; the size is small, the form round, a little oblong, the skin mostly of a clear yellow, with a little dull red ; the flesh pleasant and musky, without being high flavored. The tree grows to a large size, with long and hanging limbs, producing its fruit in clusters, and most abundantly. -- R. Manning, The New England Fruit Book, 1844.