Description
DEZALLIER D'ARGENVILLE (Antoine Joseph). L'histoire naturelle eclaircie dans une de ses parties principales, l'Oryctologie, qui traite des terres, des pierres, des metaux, des minéraux, et autres fossiles, ouvrage dans lequel on trouve une nouvelle méthode latine & francoise de les diviser, & une notice critique des principaux ouvrages qui ont paru sur ces matières. Paris, De Bure, 1755. Large in-4, marbled calf, spine with ornate nerves, gilt arms in the center of the boards, double gilt fillet on the edges. Partly first edition and first separate edition. It is illustrated with a frontispiece by Devermont, 25 plates out of text and 2 figures in text. The Oryctology was originally one of the parts of the most famous work of Dezallier d'Argenville, the Conchyliology, published in 1742. For this edition, the author enriched the text and had new plates engraved, representing stones, minerals (including some diamonds), corals and fossils, as well as birds and fish. Dezallier recognizes three classes of minerals: stones, earths and others, subdivided according to physical properties such as color, size and weight. The last part contains a remarkable account of minerals and fossils discovered in France, ending with an overview of "some rare birds and fishes" that have "never been engraved" (plates 25 and 26). A fine copy bearing the arms of Jean-Joseph Leconte de Nonant, marquis of Flamanville (Normandy).
593
DEZALLIER D'ARGENVILLE (Antoine Joseph). L'histoire naturelle eclaircie dans une de ses parties principales, l'Oryctologie, qui traite des terres, des pierres, des metaux, des minéraux, et autres fossiles, ouvrage dans lequel on trouve une nouvelle méthode latine & francoise de les diviser, & une notice critique des principaux ouvrages qui ont paru sur ces matières. Paris, De Bure, 1755. Large in-4, marbled calf, spine with ornate nerves, gilt arms in the center of the boards, double gilt fillet on the edges. Partly first edition and first separate edition. It is illustrated with a frontispiece by Devermont, 25 plates out of text and 2 figures in text. The Oryctology was originally one of the parts of the most famous work of Dezallier d'Argenville, the Conchyliology, published in 1742. For this edition, the author enriched the text and had new plates engraved, representing stones, minerals (including some diamonds), corals and fossils, as well as birds and fish. Dezallier recognizes three classes of minerals: stones, earths and others, subdivided according to physical properties such as color, size and weight. The last part contains a remarkable account of minerals and fossils discovered in France, ending with an overview of "some rare birds and fishes" that have "never been engraved" (plates 25 and 26). A fine copy bearing the arms of Jean-Joseph Leconte de Nonant, marquis of Flamanville (Normandy).
