Kirwan, Richard; Anfangsgrunde der Mineralogie. Berlin, 1785. Octavo, pp. 462, 18.

The text is complete and in the original boards, inked spine title, edge and spine wear, scuffing to boards, inked notations on end sheets and in some margins, very good.

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Kirwan (1733-1812), an Irish mineralogist and chemist was a founding member of the Royal Irish Academy and eventually its president. He was a staunch opponent of Hutton's geological theories, a view expressed in his work "Geological Essays", 1799. His above work is the first German translation of his systematic treatises on mineralogy. His work is based on the mineral collection of the German geologist Abraham Werner. Kirwan was appointed to purchase the "Leskean cabinet" of minerals for the Royal Dublin Society in 1792 and having come under the influence of Werner arranged the collection based on Werner's theories and it is those theories expressed in Kirwan's work.