Details
BUONANNI, Filippo (1638-1725). Ricreatione dell'occhio e della mente nell'osservation delle Chiocciole. Rome: for Il Varese, 1681.
4° (242 x 177mm.). Engraved frontispiece by Giovanni Francesco Venturini, letterpress title with woodcut device (both repaired after removal of ownership stamp), 5 engraved titles or section titles and 110 plates, 2 engraved illustrations. (Marginal tear to Yy1 affecting 1 line of text, occasional light spotting and browning to text.) Contemporary marbled calf, spine gilt with red lettering-piece (stitching shaken). Provenance: Leonard Baskin (initials dated 1970 on page 81).
FIRST EDITION of "the first book of any size restricted to molluscs" (Dance, Shell Collecting p.43). The author was a Jesuit, and librarian of the Collegio Romano: a Latin translation of this work was published in 1684. The book expresses Buonanni's belief in the spontaneous generation of molluscs, and rekindled the controversy on the subject that had started between Athanasius Kircher and Francesco Redi in 1671. Dictionary of Scientific Biography p. 591; British Museum N. H. vol. I, p. 286 (requires only 109 plates and 14 unnumbered preliminary pages).
4° (242 x 177mm.). Engraved frontispiece by Giovanni Francesco Venturini, letterpress title with woodcut device (both repaired after removal of ownership stamp), 5 engraved titles or section titles and 110 plates, 2 engraved illustrations. (Marginal tear to Yy1 affecting 1 line of text, occasional light spotting and browning to text.) Contemporary marbled calf, spine gilt with red lettering-piece (stitching shaken). Provenance: Leonard Baskin (initials dated 1970 on page 81).
FIRST EDITION of "the first book of any size restricted to molluscs" (Dance, Shell Collecting p.43). The author was a Jesuit, and librarian of the Collegio Romano: a Latin translation of this work was published in 1684. The book expresses Buonanni's belief in the spontaneous generation of molluscs, and rekindled the controversy on the subject that had started between Athanasius Kircher and Francesco Redi in 1671. Dictionary of Scientific Biography p. 591; British Museum N. H. vol. I, p. 286 (requires only 109 plates and 14 unnumbered preliminary pages).