Details
ROM DE L'ISLE, Jean-Baptiste Louis (1736-1790). Essai de cristallographie, ou description des figures gomtriques, propres diffrens corps du regne minral, connus vulgairement sous le nom de cristaux. Paris: Didot jeune and Knapen & Delaguette, 1772 [paper watermarked 1742].
4o (249 x 193 mm). 2 folding letterpress tables, 10 folding engraved plates (some very minor marginal spotting). Contemporary calf gilt, gilt edges (joints cracked, worn). Provenance: Murat de l'Estaing family (engraved armorial bookplate with the family arms).
LARGE-PAPER COPY OF THE FIRST EDITION, in which Rom de L'Isle "identified 110 crystal forms (drawing upon Linnaeus, who had listed forty) and described in minute detail the minerals that exhibited them. He subdivided the various substances into salts, stones, pyrites, and metallic minerals, stating that he agreed with Linnaeus that geometrical form is the chief characteristic by which minerals may be classified" (DSB). Wellcome IV, p. 553; Norman 1847.
4
LARGE-PAPER COPY OF THE FIRST EDITION, in which Rom de L'Isle "identified 110 crystal forms (drawing upon Linnaeus, who had listed forty) and described in minute detail the minerals that exhibited them. He subdivided the various substances into salts, stones, pyrites, and metallic minerals, stating that he agreed with Linnaeus that geometrical form is the chief characteristic by which minerals may be classified" (DSB). Wellcome IV, p. 553; Norman 1847.