GESSNER, C.
De Omni Rerum Fossilium Genere, Gemmis, Lapidibus, Metallis, et huiusmodi...
Zürich, Jakob Gesner, 1565-1566. 8vo (160 x 105mm). 8 works in one (see collation below), with woodcut of a ring and 12 gemstones on title, 2 woodcut portraits of Kentmann, numerous woodcuts of minerals, fossils and gems. Contemporary half blind pressed pigskin, blind tooled green boards with vellum, blind tooled corners.

One of the rarest and most precious works on fossils and minerals. Our copy is reasonably priced asit has the following faults: Small paper restoration to title without loss of printed text, leaves a6 and a8 of the first work 'Catalogus Rerum' by Kentman in very good facsimile, leaf 132 of Gesner's 'De rerum Fosilium' in very good facsimile and leaves 103 and 111 with skillfull paper restoration. A compendium of works by several authors, including Gesner himself, each part (except the first one) with its own title page, edited and published, with commentary by Gesner. I. Catalogus rerum fossilium Io. Kentmani... ff [8, comprising title to the whole work, table of contents, and 12 pages of Gesner's introduction to the volume] 95 [1, blank], with a woodcut illustrating Kentmann's mineral cabinet (here in facsimile). A catalogue describing the mineral collection of Johannes Kentmann. It is the first publication in its kind and describes some 1600 specimens. 'This catalog and its importance to Gesner in the latter's attempts to create a systematic classification of mineral substances is discussed by M.J.S. Ruckwick, The Meaning of Fossils, 1972, especially pp 12-13, with a reproduction of the explanatory chart to the cabinet and a woodcut of the cabinet itself. Adams noted that "Kentmann is stated to have been the first man in Europe to make a collection of minerals"' (Sinkankas). II. KENTMANN, Johann. Calculorum qui in corpore ac membris hominum innascuntur, genera XII. ff [2] 22, with 10 woodcuts, a treatise of stones formed in the human body. III. FABRICIUS, Georg. De metallicis rebus... ff [3] 31. A treatise on noble and base metals. IV. GOEBEL, Severin. De succino libri duo... ff [2] 30 [recte 31] [5, last blank]. A treatise on amber, which is followed by Gesner's commentary 'De bitumine et cognati ei, naptha' V. CORDUS, Valerius. De halosantho seu spermate ceti... ff [3] 37. 'Cordus wrote on 'efflorescences' of salt found on bodies of water which Dioscorides and Galen had prescribed as cures for skin afflictions. Gesner refutes the popular notion that such salts were the sperm of whales' (Sinkankas). VI. EPIPHANIUS. De XII gemmis quae erant in veste Aaronis... ff [4] 28. A treatise on the twelve gemstones in the breastplate of Aaron, High Priest of the Jews, with commentary by Gesner. VII. RUE, François de la. De gemmis aliquot... ff [2] 85 [recte 86]. A treatise on gems mentioned in the Book of Revelations. VIII. GESNER, Conrad. De rerum fossilium, lapidum et gemmarum... ff [7] 169, with 72 woodcuts (many with more than one on a page, and sometimes several figures) in text. 'Gessner's main contribution to his work on fossils and gems, illustrated by many woodcuts after his own drawings and water colours (many of which are still preserved in the university library at Basel). These are the first printed illustrations of fossils. The work contains also descriptions of technical applications; noteworthy among these is the earliest illustration of lead pencil (leaves 104 and 105). In his introduction, Gessner indicates that he considers this only as an outline for a much larger and comprehensive work on fossils which he hoped to compile and publish after the completion of his botanical encyclopedia on which he was then working. Neither of these planned works materialized because Gessner died shortly after the publication of this work' (Wellisch A 63). Provenance: Old name G. Rolfinck on title. Wellisch A6; Hoover 347; Sinkankas 2366; Sparrow, Milestones of Science p. 10.
EUR 15000.-



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