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Rare gemology-mineralogy book, Theophrastus; Theophrasti Eresii Græce & Latine opera omnia.

Item Number: Book 734-c

Rare gemology-mineralogy book, Theophrastus; Theophrasti  Eresii Græce & Latine opera omnia.

Theophrastus; ΘΕΟΦΡΑΣΤΟΥ ΤΟΥ ΕRΕΣΙΟΥ ΆΠΑΝΤΑ.  Theophrasti  Eresii Græce & Latine opera omnia. Daniel Heinsivs  Textum Græcum locis infinitis partim ex ingenio partim e libris emendauit: hiulca suppleuit, male concepta recensuit:  interpretationem paßim interpolauit. Cum Indice locupletissimo.   Lvgdvni Batavorum, Ex Typographio Henrici ab Haestens, Impensis  Iohannis Orlers, And. Cloucq, & Ioh. Maire,  Anno 1613.

The work is complete and in a 18th century full calf with gilt ruled covers, gilt spine panels, raised bands and titles. The binding is tight and clean with scuffing to boards and edges. Marbled end sheets, text is very bright and clean. In very good condition.
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Theophrastus;  (c371 B.C. - 287 B.C.) was a Greek philosopher born at Ereos on the Island of Lesbos, Greece. He died in Athens Greece. Theophrastus studied at Athens and became an ardent supporter of Plato's philosophies. While there, he became a pupil and friend of Aristotle, and when Aristotle went into exile, Theophrastus succeeded him as the leader and principal spokesman of the Peripatetic school of philosophy. This was a position he held until his death.
This is Daniel Henius' Leyden edition of Theophrastus' works in Greek with a Latin translation and commentary. The includes Theophrastos's classic De causis plantarum and De historia plantarum. The Latin translation is by Theodorus Gaza. The two main works comprise 'the earliest work of scientific botany, consisting of two separate treatises: De historia plantarum, on description, classification, and analysis; and De causis plantarum, on etiology. Part of the work is devoted to plant lore and the medicinal uses of plants, making it the earliest complete extant herbal and pharmacopoeia as well. Theophrastus described about 500 plants, ranging geographically from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean littoral and as far as India, using a method of classification that recognized the manifold nature of plants and the differences between plants and animals; the classification system, although necessarily primitive, maintained its authority until the advent of the microscope in the seventeenth century.
The work also includes The De Lapidibus which is a work of special interest in the history of mineralogy as it is the largest fragment to survive from Classical times that treats mineral substances in a meaningful way. It is like no other mineralogical work written during the period, and in fact no other original work resembling it appeared until the Middle Ages. The text of the treatise appears to have come down to the present little changed from what it was in the beginning.It remained for 1800 years one of the most authoritative treatise on minerals, referenced and quoted by writers down to modern times. The comparative absence from myth and magic in the descriptions is particularly noteworthy, and shows there existed, probably among miners, quarryman, and others engaged in the mining industry of the time, a practical knowledge of mineralogy, which Theophrastus drew upon in the compilation of this work. The text first gives a Peripatetic view of the origin of minerals and stones, and upon this foundation of Aristotle and Plato, modifications are introduced. Metals are said to be composed of water, while stones and mineral earths are composed of earth. A mineral occurs because its substance has been purified through filtration, and its degree of purity can be determined by examining such qualities as smoothness, density, luster and transparency. The primary interest in the work are the descriptions of specific minerals. Theophrastus divides into two broad categories, Earths and Stones, under which about fifty "species" are recognized. Within each commentary, the author recounts various physical characteristics such as texture, color, transparency, hardness, luster, and density, as well as the practical uses. Thus described, it is possible to apply modern names to many of the minerals Theophrastus wrote about eighteen centuries ago, and read the Classical ideas about marble, pumice, onyx, gypsum, amber, pyrite, coal, azurite, chrysocolla, realgar, orpiment, cinnabar, quartz, lapis lazuli, emerald, sapphire, ruby and diamond.

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