222 - Athanasius Kircher, *Typus Montis Vesuvii Prout ab Authore A.° 1638 visus fuit*. Amsterdam: printed by Joannis Janssonii à Waesberge and Elizaei Weyerstraet, 1664–1665 and subsequent years. Copper engraving. 368 × 418 mm. Sheet: 395 × 445 mm. From *Mundus Subterraneus*, in XII libros digestus, quo divinum subterrestris mundi opificium, mira ergasteriorum naturae in eo distributio [...] , first published in Amsterdam in 1665, with subsequent expanded editions in 1668 and 1678. The image depicts Vesuvius in 1638 as Athanasius Kircher saw it a few years after the great eruption of 1631. The drawing on the plate dates to the years 1660–1664, that is, during the preparation of *Mundus subterraneus*, but it depicts the state of Vesuvius as Kircher saw it in 1638, thus excluding the orographic changes that had occurred in the intervening years—changes later described by Kircher himself in the text of *Mundus*. The image offers a view from the sea with a cross-section of the volcano that removes part of the slope to reveal the internal cavities and connections to the subterranean fire, reflecting Kircher’s theories on the underground circulation of magma and water.

Athanasius Kircher, *Typus Montis Vesuvii Prout ab Authore A.° 1638 visus fuit*. Amsterdam: printed by Joannis Janssonii à Waesberge and Elizaei Weyerstraet, 1664–1665 and subsequent years. Copper engraving. 368 × 418 mm. Sheet: 395 × 445 mm. From *Mundus Subterraneus*, in XII libros digestus, quo divinum subterrestris mundi opificium, mira ergasteriorum naturae in eo distributio [...] , first published in Amsterdam in 1665, with subsequent expanded editions in 1668 and 1678. The image depicts Vesuvius in 1638 as Athanasius Kircher saw it a few years after the great eruption of 1631. The drawing on the plate dates to the years 1660–1664, that is, during the preparation of *Mundus subterraneus*, but it depicts the state of Vesuvius as Kircher saw it in 1638, thus excluding the orographic changes that had occurred in the intervening years—changes later described by Kircher himself in the text of *Mundus*. The image offers a view from the sea with a cross-section of the volcano that removes part of the slope to reveal the internal cavities and connections to the subterranean fire, reflecting Kircher’s theories on the underground circulation of magma and water. (1) Complete plate with original margins; vertical binding crease in the center with remnants of a binding strip on the reverse. A small area of paper loss in the center. Slight signs of wear.