Essai de Cristallographie, ou Description des Figures Géométriques, Propres à différens Corps du Regne Minéral, connus vulgairement sous le nom de Cr

8vo (190 x 121 mm), [7] viii-xxxii, 427, [3] pp. including initial and final blank, half title, 2 folding tables, 10 folding engraved plates, woodcut head- and tailpieces. Signatures: a-b8 A-2D8. Contemporary French marbled calf, spine with 5 raised bands gilt-tooled in compartments and gilt-lettered red morocco label, red-dyed edges, marbled endpapers (light rubbing to extremities). Text and plates bright and crisp throughout with only minor spotting in places, light ink soiling of final plate verso. Provenance: from a French private mineralogy collection. An exceptional copy. ---- FIRST EDITION. ""The Cristallographie ranks as one of the great contributions to the science of crystals. In it Romé de l'Isle attempted to make a comprehensive classification of crystals. By the time he wrote this volume, he was extremely familiar with the subject, and this work greatly supassed all previous works in scope and detail. To apply his classification, he adopted a morphological approach in which he attempted to relate the diverse forms of crystals of the same substance. As a general morphological concept he introduced the idea of the ""primitive form."" All crystals of the same inorganic substance, no matter how different in appearance had a fundemental and common geometrical form-the primative form-to which their actual crystal shapes related. The justification for this idea was derived from the previous work of Carl Linneaus who had tried to expain the genesis of minerals by means of an analogy with the procreation of living creatures, and classified cystals by the similarities of their crystallized forms. In this first edition of the Cristallographie, Romé de l'Isle identifies 110 crystal forms by which minerals crystallize. Grouped under each of these shapes are described the minerals that exhibit similar habit, including the approximate angles between crystal faces. These forms were all derived form a common saline ingrediaent in every mineral that worked at a molecular level. Although he believes that these primitive forms existed, it is never made clear how they should be defined for any group of crystals"" (Mineralogical Record Bibliography). Bibliography and references: Norman 1847; Wellcome 4, 553; Burke, Origins of the Science of Crystals, 1966: 69-71; Dana's 7th (Bibliography): 69; DSB: 11, 520-4 [by R. Hooykaas]; Freilich Sale Catalog: nos. 460-1; Hoover Collection: no. 691; Hooykaas, R., ""De kristallografie van J.B. de Romé de l'Isle (1783)"". - Visit our website to see more images!