Théorie de la Terre...Seconde Édition, corrigée, et augmentée d'une Minéralogie

Finely engraved frontis. port. of the author & eight folding engraved plates. Five vols. 8vo, fine cont. mottled calf (a few minor defects), flat spines gilt, red morocco lettering pieces on spines. Paris: Maradan, 1797.

Second edition, corrected, and enlarged. This edition expands the sections on mineralogy and petrology from two volumes to four. First published in 1795, this is the author’s chief work, which enjoyed considerable popularity among his contemporaries; it was founded for the most part on Werner’s teachings. “Taking a broad cosmogonical view of creation, Lamétherie regarded the major features of the earth as the result of the (truncated) combined action of crystallization, moving water, and shifts in the planetary-motion characteristics of the earth.”–D.S.B., VII, p. 604.

La Métherie (1743-1817), was chief editor of the famous Journal de Physique from 1785 until the year of his death. He wrote a number of important works on mineralogy and was a friend to many of the leading scientists of his time, especially Cuvier.

A lovely set.

❧ Schuh, Mineralogy & Crystallography: A Biobibliography, 1469 to 1920, 1318–“Very scarce.” Zittel, pp. 77-78. (Inventory #: 5051)