Historia Naturale de Ferrante Imperato Napolitano.  Nella Quale Ordinatamente si Tratta. Della diversa condition di Minere, Pietre Pretiose, & alter curiosita. Con varie Historie di Piante, & Animali, sin’hora non date in luce. In questa Seconda Impressione aggiontoui da Gio Maria Ferro. Spetiale alla Sanita, alcune Annotationi alle Piante nel Libro vigesimo ottavo.  Venetia: Presso Combi, La Nou, 1672.

Second edition, revised and expanded from the very scarce first edition of 1599.

Folio (327 x 227 mm). [viii], 1-696, [8, Index] pp. With engraved vignette on title-page, and 126 woodcuts in text. Title-page printed in red and black. Lacks the plate depicting the interior of Imperato’s museum. Contemporary full orange vellum, covers double-ruled in blind, spine tooled and lettered in gilt. Spine soiled and sunned, some sunning to board edges, front gutter over-opened, but the original bands and cords are still strong. Pastedowns have some professionally repaired tears. One short tear at top of pp. 37/38 and 169/170 (not affecting text), upper corner of p. 487/488 missing (10 mm wide x 60 mm long, not affecting text). Still, a very nice copy.

From the library of John Crerar, Chicago, with his bookplate on the front pastedown, and perforated stamp on the title-page. With four other small ownership stamps on front free endpaper, front blank, and title-page. With French bookseller’s large ticket on the top of the front pastedown. The John Crerar Library (established in 1895) became one of the country’s leading research libraries, with an emphasis on science and technology.

This beautiful illustrated catalogue of the legendary “Museo” of the Neopolitan apothecary Ferrante Imperato (1550-1625) and his son Francesco. This gigantic collection of natural history specimens (including plants, shells, sea life, fossils, metals, and gems), collected during Imperato’s extensive travels, was the earliest of its kind in Italy, and became famous throughout Europe. This book also describes his studies of geology and paleontology.

This catalogue is in twenty-eight chapters, with five chapters on mining, and nine on alchemy, with the rest concerning animals and vegetables. The alchemy sections discuss the making of the legendary “philosopher’s stone,” the transmutation of metals and the making of colorless glass.

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Hunt Botanical Catalogue, 321. Nissen ZBI, 2111. Wellcome IV, P. 328.

ID: 5061

$ 7,500