Boodt, Anselm Boetius de ; Brvgensis Belgæ, Rvdolphi Secvndi, Imperatoris Romanorvm, Personæ Medici, Gemmarvm Et Lapivm Historia Qua solum ortus, natura, vis & precium, sedetiam modus quo exiis, olea,  salia, sincturæ, essentiæ, arcana & magisteria arte chymica |consici possint, oftenditur. Opvs Principibvs, Medicis, Chy- micis, Physicis, ac liberalioribus ingeniis vtilissimum. Cum variis figuris, Indiceq duplici & copioso. Hanoviæ, Typis Wechelianis apud Claudium Marnium & heredes Ioannis Aubrii. 1609. Quarto, pp. title page with printers woodcut device, 294, index of 15 pages and printer's woodcut device verso of final page, 8 tables with 2 folded, numerous woodcuts within text.
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This rare work is complete and in a 19th century calf with gilt ruled edges, gilt titles, and six gilt spine panels. The binding is tight with minor scuffing to edges and corners. The text has very light foxing and has some  early but very nice archival repairs at a few page margins. Over all in very good condition.
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A Belgium physician and gem expert; Boodt (1550-1634) was to become the personal physician and gemologist to Rudolph II. He was a member of a noble Roman Catholic family and chose to study for a medical career and subsequently studied under Thomas Erastus [1523-1583] at Heidelberg and obtained his M.D. in Padua, Italy. While living there, he became acquainted with the Bohemian naturalist Thadeus Hayek. Through this relationship, Boodt became very interested in the natural world, and he began to draw and paint flowers, animals and minerals. He also made many mineralogical trips in Bohemia, Silesia and Germany. From 1584 until 1595, Boodt held the post of canon of St. Donat's Church in his home town but continued to live in Prague. In 1604, Rudolf II took him on as his personal physician. Boodt continued in this position until the emperor's death in 1612. Boodt then returned to Bruges, spending the remainder of his life as a town councilor. He never married and his relatives received all the physical property, including a collection of minerals.
His work Gemmarvm et Lapidvm Historia is one of the most important mineralogical works of the seventeenth century. It is of particular interest as a manual describing minerals that is more detailed,  extensive, systematic than earlier works. It was a well known and influential book, going through several editions and frequently being cited by other authors. Boodt's work is an early example of a treatise on mineral substances that departs from a simple alphabetical arrangement in presenting its description of stones.
The work is divided into two books. Book one presents discusses the properties of minerals. In book two over one hundred different mineral substances are discussed. For each kind, Boodt records the various names by which a mineral is known, physical properties, occurances, imitations, and the means of detecting imitations, uses involving medical prescriptions, and approximate cost. The book contains an early attempt at the systematic description of minerals, with divisions of large and small, common and rare, soft and hard, flammable and nonflammable, transparent and opaque. Boodt notes the crystalline forms of some minerals as triangular, quadratic and hexangular, and he provides critical references to earlier authors like Aristotle, Pliny and Parcaleus.