Milestones of Science Books

DELAFOSSE, Gabriel.

Nouveau Cours De Minéralogie Comprenant La Description De Toutes Les Espèces Minérales Avec Leurs Applications Directes Aux Arts.

Paris: A La Librairie Encyclopédique De Roret, 1858.

1st Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Item #003910

1858-1862. Four parts bound in four volumes (three of text and one atlas). 8vo (217 x 140 mm). Text volumes: [4], 546; [2], 486, [2]; [4], 628, 8 pp.; Atlas: [1-5] 6-16, [1] 14-24 pp., 40 double-page lithographed plates of crystal structures. Half-title and title to each volume; vol. I and II bound without final blank; 8 pp. of adverts in vol. III bound at end. Uniformly bound in 20th-century half green calf over marbled boards, spines with 4 raised bands each, silver lettering and tooling in compartments (silver of lettering partially gone). Several pages still uncut and unopened. Text little browned mostly to outer margins, some scattered foxing to text and plates (few pages and plates stronger), vol. I and atlas with light water-staining at lower margin of few gatherings and plates. Provenace: from a private collection of mineralogy books; traces of removed bookplates at pastedowns. Very good, complete and wide-margined set. ----

RARE FIRST EDITION of "Delafosse's most comprehensive work [. . .] drawn from his courses at the Ecole Normale, the Museum [Nationale d'Histoire Naturelle], and the Sorbonne, and published after he attained recognition as a major figure in mineralogy" (DSB).
In The New Course of Mineralogy, the author concentrates his text on the practical use of minerals in industry. Gabriel Delafosse (1796-1878) was a French mineralogist, geologist and chemist who worked at the Natural History Museum in Paris and for sometime at the University of Paris. In the field of crystallography, he contributed to development of the idea of unit cells of crystals. Delafosse "considers that their chemical composition should be studied. It thus defines the difference between the 'integral molecule' (molecule) and the 'chemical molecule' (atom) of the crystals. By seeking the provision of the atoms inside the physical molecule, Delafosse is one of the first, in mineralogy, to apply the atomic theory. From this study on the chemical composition of minerals result from many work on the conditions of crystallization. Thus isomorphism and polymorphism with Eilhardt Mitscherlich (1794-1863) will be discovered, then will appear the concepts of dimorphism, homeomorphism, etc." (Schuh).
References: Schuh's Annotated Bio-Bibliography, The Mineralogical Record, online resource; DSB 15 & 16 Suppl. I, p.115. - Visit our website to see more images!

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