Dana, James D.; A System of Mineralogy Containing the Most Recent Discovers . . . Illustrated by Six Hundred Wood Cuts. 4th edition. New York, Appleton & Co., 1858. Quarto, pp. 533, errata, 600 text woodcuts.

The work is complete and in the original stamped cloth with gilt spine titles. X-lib, with faint accession number on spine. The binding is tight with light sun fading to spine, small perforated stamp on lower part of title page. The text is clean with signature of William Ferris on first blank leaf and inscription dated 1866 noting purchase of text with a collection of minerals. Very minor foxing to first and last pages. In very good condition.
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Dana (1813-1895) an American mineralogist, crystallographer, paleontologist and zoologist was associated with Yale University from 1850 to 1890. In addition to Cleaveland's and Shepard's works on mineralogy; Dana's "System" formed the foundation of mineralogy in America. Dana made full use of Silliman's extensive private library at Yale in formulating his work. From the material available, he relied most on the works of Hauy, Mohs, and Naumann plus his own research. The work was originally published in the spring of 1837 and received immediate praise. Silliman's Journal wrote "We believe this to be decidedly among the best treatises upon this subject that has ever been circulated in the United States.." As the 7th edition was going to press in 1937, Edward Krause of the University of Michigan stated in an address at the GSA meeting in Washington D.C. "..I believe that Dana's System of Mineralogy is unique among American scientific publications". Dana is considered by many to be the "father of American mineralogy".
Four years after the appearance of the third edition, the fourth edition of the System was published in 1854 with two later printings following in quick succession. No changes were made in later printings of the 4th edition.
In the 4th edition, Dana introduces the classification of minerals which in its major divisions is followed to this day, and is commemorated with the description, "Dana Classification." It is based upon a combination of chemical and crystallographic information, with the major divisions of species determined by their chemistry, while ordering within these divisions is determined either by isomorphism or similarity of chemical formula or both.
As a necessary component of this system, the crystallographic descriptions have been revised and updated. In this edition for the first time, Dana has included extensive information on the forms of crystals. For species rich in crystal forms, a diagrammatic summary of the observed forms is provided.