[MINERALOGIE] BOODT, Le Parfaict Joaillier, 1644
BOECE DE BOODT, Anselme.
Le Parfaict Joaillier, ou Histoire des pierreries ou sont amplement descrites leur naissance, de juste prix, moyen de les cognoistre, & se garder des contrefaites, facilitez medicinales, & propriectez curieuses.
Lyon, Jean Antoine Huguetan, 1644.
8vo (171x108 mm), (32)-746-(34) pages and two folding plates. Errata leaf is missing. binding : Contemporary full brown morocco. Binding stained. Caps chipped. New frant enpapers. Title page doubled with lack at the top corner repaired. Waterstains.
First french edition.
Milestone in mineralogy and gemmology.
Translation by Jean Bachou from the Latin edition of the "Gemmarum et Lapidum Historia" and enriched with annotations by André Toll.
All precious stones are studied there as well as the cutting and polishing processes. Boodt also describes the virtues of stones, medicinal and magical faculties.
Numerous woodcuts in the text.
references: Daumas ["Histoire de la science", Pleïade, 1957, p. 1069 : “Pendant plus d'un siècle Le Parfait Joaillier restera le seul traité classique sur la genèse et sur les propriétés des gemmes; il sera encore un des livres de chevet d'Haüy”], DSB [II, 292 : "Boodt made the first attempt at a systematice description of minerals, dividing the minerals into great and small, rare and common, hard and soft, combustible and incombustible, transparent and opaque [...] He enumerates about 600 minerals that he knows from personal obersvation, and describes their properties"], Caillet [I, 1280 : "Rare et singulier"].
Price : 500 €
