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Details
BOYLE, Robert (1627-91). An Essay about the Origine & Virtues of Gems. London: William Godbid for Moses Pitt, 1672.
8o (167 x 99 mm). (Title slightly toned, some minor marginal soiling, a few pale stains.) Nineteenth-century calf (rebacked). Provenance: William Stirling (bookplate).
FIRST EDITION of this essay that marks the beginning of the modern development in knowledge of crystal structure. "The literature [on gems] increased at an astonishing rate during the first two centuries after printing; but except for technical works on stonecutting and the setting of precious stones, the subject continued to be largely a mixture of myth and credulity until the advent of Boyle's Essay of Gems" (Fulton 96). NLM/Krivatsy 1692; Ward & Carozzi 289; Wellcome II:222; Wing B-3947.
8o (167 x 99 mm). (Title slightly toned, some minor marginal soiling, a few pale stains.) Nineteenth-century calf (rebacked). Provenance: William Stirling (bookplate).
FIRST EDITION of this essay that marks the beginning of the modern development in knowledge of crystal structure. "The literature [on gems] increased at an astonishing rate during the first two centuries after printing; but except for technical works on stonecutting and the setting of precious stones, the subject continued to be largely a mixture of myth and credulity until the advent of Boyle's Essay of Gems" (Fulton 96). NLM/Krivatsy 1692; Ward & Carozzi 289; Wellcome II:222; Wing B-3947.