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KIRCHER, Athanasius (1602-1680). Mundus subterraneus. Amsterdam: Joannes Jansson and Elizeus Weyerstraten, 1665.
2 volumes bound in one, 2° (355 x 226mm). Engraved vignette on volume I title, engraved additional titles by Theodor Matham after Johann Paul Schor and Anthonie Siourtsma after Crispijn van de Passe, both dated 1665, engraved portrait frontispieces of Kircher and Pope Alexander VII. 17 engraved plates [including 2 to form components of volvelles], 7 double-page folding, one woodcut plate, 6 engraved maps, 5 double-page, 3 double-page folding, 7 double-page letterpress tables. Letterpress tables, engraved illustrations and maps in the text, some full-page, woodcut illustrations, diagrams, maps, tailpieces and initials. (Scattered light spotting and ink-marking, portrait of Kircher, one plate and one map trimmed, volume I privilege bound in after dedication, a few gatherings lightly stained, some plates with short tears, a few repaired, one map with small hole, another with clean tear, small paper flaw affecting text on II/R4.) 18th-century vellum, lettered in manuscript on the spine, speckled edges (vellum slightly cockled, marked and scratched, lacking ties). Provenance: occasional early annotations and underlinings in two or more hands -- '131 Hinseberg' (inscription on top edge).
FIRST EDITION OF KIRCHER'S 'HIGHLY POPULAR ENCYCLOPAEDIA' (Norman), a work that surveyed and described the subterranean world. Based on his experiences of the eruption of Vesuvius in 1637 and the 14 days of earthquakes that shook Calabria in 1638, Kircher attempts in the work to show that the subterranean world is composed of two interlocking systems of fire and water. Representing the first serious effort to describe the physical makeup of the earth, the book is full of extravagant theories, some of greater scientific potential than others, in the areas of physics, geography, geology and chemistry. While Kircher was the first, for example, to suggest the existence of a vast network of underground springs and reservoirs, and the first to voice the theory that temperatures below the earth's surface increase in proportion to depth, he also elaborated an interpretation of fossils as the expression of a 'spiritus plasticus in the earth analogous to the vital forces controlling the growth and development of organisms [and] illustrated his work with a fantastic collection of supposed natural ''images'' in stone -- including letters of the alphabet and a Madonna' (Norman). The world map (Shirley, The Mapping of the World 436) was one of the earliest to show ocean currents with any degree of accuracy. In the present copy the two inserted plates bearing the mobile components of the volvelles have not been assembled onto the plates, but remain complete. Ferguson I, p.467; Norman 1218; Waller 10868 (variant collation).
2 volumes bound in one, 2° (355 x 226mm). Engraved vignette on volume I title, engraved additional titles by Theodor Matham after Johann Paul Schor and Anthonie Siourtsma after Crispijn van de Passe, both dated 1665, engraved portrait frontispieces of Kircher and Pope Alexander VII. 17 engraved plates [including 2 to form components of volvelles], 7 double-page folding, one woodcut plate, 6 engraved maps, 5 double-page, 3 double-page folding, 7 double-page letterpress tables. Letterpress tables, engraved illustrations and maps in the text, some full-page, woodcut illustrations, diagrams, maps, tailpieces and initials. (Scattered light spotting and ink-marking, portrait of Kircher, one plate and one map trimmed, volume I privilege bound in after dedication, a few gatherings lightly stained, some plates with short tears, a few repaired, one map with small hole, another with clean tear, small paper flaw affecting text on II/R4.) 18th-century vellum, lettered in manuscript on the spine, speckled edges (vellum slightly cockled, marked and scratched, lacking ties). Provenance: occasional early annotations and underlinings in two or more hands -- '131 Hinseberg' (inscription on top edge).
FIRST EDITION OF KIRCHER'S 'HIGHLY POPULAR ENCYCLOPAEDIA' (Norman), a work that surveyed and described the subterranean world. Based on his experiences of the eruption of Vesuvius in 1637 and the 14 days of earthquakes that shook Calabria in 1638, Kircher attempts in the work to show that the subterranean world is composed of two interlocking systems of fire and water. Representing the first serious effort to describe the physical makeup of the earth, the book is full of extravagant theories, some of greater scientific potential than others, in the areas of physics, geography, geology and chemistry. While Kircher was the first, for example, to suggest the existence of a vast network of underground springs and reservoirs, and the first to voice the theory that temperatures below the earth's surface increase in proportion to depth, he also elaborated an interpretation of fossils as the expression of a 'spiritus plasticus in the earth analogous to the vital forces controlling the growth and development of organisms [and] illustrated his work with a fantastic collection of supposed natural ''images'' in stone -- including letters of the alphabet and a Madonna' (Norman). The world map (Shirley, The Mapping of the World 436) was one of the earliest to show ocean currents with any degree of accuracy. In the present copy the two inserted plates bearing the mobile components of the volvelles have not been assembled onto the plates, but remain complete. Ferguson I, p.467; Norman 1218; Waller 10868 (variant collation).
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