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Details
FILIPPO BUONANNI (1638-1725)
Ricreatione dell'occhio e della mente nell'osservation' delle chioccole. Rome: Varese, 1681. 4 parts in one volume, 4° (244 x 178mm). Woodcut title-vignette. 2 engraved additional titles, one by and after Giovanni Francesco Venturini, engraved part title to part IV [Hofer Baroque Book Illustration 75] and 3 sectional titles. 110 engraved plates and 2 engraved illustrations, woodcut diagrams, head- and tailpieces and initials. (Variable light spotting and browning, occasional marking, small marginal repairs on title and additional title, short clean tear on 2Y1.) Contemporary mottled sheep, the spine gilt in compartments, gilt leather lettering-piece, red-speckled edges (lightly rubbed or scuffed at extremities, short split on upper joint, lacking front free endpaper).
FIRST EDITION. LEONARD BASKIN'S COPY OF 'THE FIRST BOOK OF ANY SIZE TO BE RESTRICTED TO MOLLUSCS' (Dance p.43). Buonanni--'one of the most learned Jesuits of his time' (DSB II, p.591)--was a student of the Jesuit polymath Athanasius Kircher and succeeded Kircher as mathematics teacher at the Collegium Romanum in 1680. Of similarly broad interests as his master, Buonanni is particularly noted for his work in natural sciences, using a microscope of his own invention to pursue these studies. Ricreatione ... was one of the first and most important practical, illustrated books dedicated to molluscs. The numerous figures depict a comprehensive range of shells, many drawn from examples in Kircher's celebrated museum; the images were accurate by contemporary standards, and many of them were later cited by Linnaeus. However, the book was marred by Buonanni's adherence to outmoded authorities; he followed Aristotle and Kircher's belief in spontaneous generation. Buonanni believed that molluscs had no heart; therefore they were bloodless, and therefore--according to Aristotelian theory--they were not oviparous. From this misfounded syllogism Buonanni concluded that molluscs reproduced through spontaneous generation, in spite of the earlier explosion of the hypothesis of spontaneous generation by both Francesco Redi and Marcello Malpighi in their respective studies Esperienze intorno alla generazione degli insetti (Florence: 1668) and Anatome plantarum (London: 1675-79). Despite criticism of Ricreatione ... from contemporaries (particularly Redi), a Latin edition was published at Rome in 1684, and the work remained valued for the illustrations and the system of classification employed, if not for the scientific worth of the text. BM(NH) I, p.286 (calling for 109 plates); Brunet I, cols 1085-1086; Dance Shell Collecting 'Bibliography' 49; NLM/Krivatsy 1936; Nissen ZBI 753 (calling for 109 plates); Waller 11792; Wood p.272.
Ricreatione dell'occhio e della mente nell'osservation' delle chioccole. Rome: Varese, 1681. 4 parts in one volume, 4° (244 x 178mm). Woodcut title-vignette. 2 engraved additional titles, one by and after Giovanni Francesco Venturini, engraved part title to part IV [Hofer Baroque Book Illustration 75] and 3 sectional titles. 110 engraved plates and 2 engraved illustrations, woodcut diagrams, head- and tailpieces and initials. (Variable light spotting and browning, occasional marking, small marginal repairs on title and additional title, short clean tear on 2Y1.) Contemporary mottled sheep, the spine gilt in compartments, gilt leather lettering-piece, red-speckled edges (lightly rubbed or scuffed at extremities, short split on upper joint, lacking front free endpaper).
FIRST EDITION. LEONARD BASKIN'S COPY OF 'THE FIRST BOOK OF ANY SIZE TO BE RESTRICTED TO MOLLUSCS' (Dance p.43). Buonanni--'one of the most learned Jesuits of his time' (DSB II, p.591)--was a student of the Jesuit polymath Athanasius Kircher and succeeded Kircher as mathematics teacher at the Collegium Romanum in 1680. Of similarly broad interests as his master, Buonanni is particularly noted for his work in natural sciences, using a microscope of his own invention to pursue these studies. Ricreatione ... was one of the first and most important practical, illustrated books dedicated to molluscs. The numerous figures depict a comprehensive range of shells, many drawn from examples in Kircher's celebrated museum; the images were accurate by contemporary standards, and many of them were later cited by Linnaeus. However, the book was marred by Buonanni's adherence to outmoded authorities; he followed Aristotle and Kircher's belief in spontaneous generation. Buonanni believed that molluscs had no heart; therefore they were bloodless, and therefore--according to Aristotelian theory--they were not oviparous. From this misfounded syllogism Buonanni concluded that molluscs reproduced through spontaneous generation, in spite of the earlier explosion of the hypothesis of spontaneous generation by both Francesco Redi and Marcello Malpighi in their respective studies Esperienze intorno alla generazione degli insetti (Florence: 1668) and Anatome plantarum (London: 1675-79). Despite criticism of Ricreatione ... from contemporaries (particularly Redi), a Latin edition was published at Rome in 1684, and the work remained valued for the illustrations and the system of classification employed, if not for the scientific worth of the text. BM(NH) I, p.286 (calling for 109 plates); Brunet I, cols 1085-1086; Dance Shell Collecting 'Bibliography' 49; NLM/Krivatsy 1936; Nissen ZBI 753 (calling for 109 plates); Waller 11792; Wood p.272.
Provenance
Underlinings in the text.
Leonard Baskin (1922-2000, the signature on L1r amended in pencil to '·L·B· , · , ·19·70·').
E.P. Goldschmidt & Co. Ltd sale; Christie's, London, 8 July 1993, lot 45 (to Dreesmann).
Dr Anton C.R. Dreesmann (inventory no. Y-57).
Leonard Baskin (1922-2000, the signature on L1r amended in pencil to '·L·B· , · , ·19·70·').
E.P. Goldschmidt & Co. Ltd sale; Christie's, London, 8 July 1993, lot 45 (to Dreesmann).
Dr Anton C.R. Dreesmann (inventory no. Y-57).
Special notice
Christie's charges a Buyer's premium calculated at 20.825% of the hammer price for each lot with a value up to €90,000. If the hammer price of a lot exceeds €90,000 then the premium for the lot is calculated at 20.825% of the first €90,000 plus 11.9% of any amount in excess of €90,000. Buyer's Premium is calculated on this basis for each lot individually.