Manuel de Minéralogie. Vol. 1

Description:

Text French. Rare and important work in the history of crystallography, which aimed to provide a comprehensive view of the internal structure of minerals through the use of optical properties. Alfred Des Cloizeaux (1817 -1897) was among the first investigators to recognize the utility of the polarizing microscope for mineral analysis. The author worked on this publication for over thirty-five years - the work was never totally completed, only two volumes were published. The second volume (not present here) was published 1874-1893.

Illustrations include: five colour-mounted figures in the text; 22 plates (nos 1-22) bound in the text block depicting stereo net projections of various crystal forms of minerals; 52 plates (I-LII) bound in the rear, illustrating crystal drawings of various mineral species, the first plate illustrates a polarizing microscope. The latter group of plates are printed double-sided, and due to an error in imposition, are erratically numbered towards the end, but all are present.

Condition

8vo, cont. morocco, raised bands to spine, marbled endpapers and edges; minor scuffing to corners. Paper browned, one page chipped to blank outer margin. Good ex-lib. copy, with a few small, neat ink stamps. From the Herbert Lister Bowman Library, Laboratory of Mineralogy, University of Oxford. Small presentation label 'Presented by Mrs. Hugo Muller, 1915'; the wife of Hugo Heinrich Wilhelm Müller (1833-1915), German born chemist, who donated his mineral collection to Oxford University Museum of Natural History.