BOODT, A. DE.

Le Parfaict Ioaillier, ou Histoire des Pierreries: ou sont amplement descrites leur naissance, iuste prix, moyen de les cognoistre, & se garder des contrefaites, facultez medecinales, & proprietez curieuses ... et de nouveau enrichi de belles annotations, indices & figures, par André Toll.

Eur 2,600 / USD 2,900
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Lyon, Huguetan, 1644. 8vo. pp. (32), 746, (36), with 2 folding tables, engraved device on title andnumerous woodcut illustrations. Contemporary mottled calf (head and tail of spine slightly worn).

He enumerates about 600 minerals that he knows from personal observation

Ward & Carozzi 254. First edition in French of Boodt's fundamental manual on mineralogy and gemmology. Boodt (ca.1550-1632), court physician to Rudolf II, 'made the first attempt at a systematic description of minerals, dividing the minerals into great and small, rare and common, hard and soft, combustible and incombustible, transparent and opaque. He usues a scale of hardness expressed in three degrees and notes the crystalline forms of some minerals (triangular, quadratic, and hexangular). ... He enumerates about 600 minerals that he knows from personal observation, and describes their properties, values, imitations, and medical applications. There are also tables of values of diamonds according to their size and short description of the polishing of precious stones' (Wlodzimierz Hubicki in DSB).
The woodcuts illustrate crystals, gemstones, and a variety of cutting and polishing equipment