Dufrenoy, Ours Pierre Armand Petit; Traité De Minéralogie Par A. Dufrénoy, Deuxième Édition, Revue, Corrigée. Et Considérablement Augmentée. Paris, Victor Dalmont, Éditeur, Successeur de Carilian-Gœury et Vor Dalmont, |Libraire Des Corps Impériaux Des Ponts Et Chaussées Et Des Mines, Qual des Augustins, 49. 1856-1859. Four volumes and atlas, quarto, vol. 1, pp. xii, 715, 297 figures, 5 folded plates. Vol. 2, pp. 685. Vol. 3, pp. 719. Vol. 4, pp. 767, errata. Atlas, pp. liii, 14 figures, 236 plates.
The set is complete and in a modern half calf over marbled boards with gilt spine titles. Bindings are tight and very clean. Light foxing to a few text signatures, discard stamp verso of half titles but no other stamps or markings. The plates are exceptionally clean. In very good condition.
A French mineralogist and geologist, Dufrenoy (1742-1857) studied studied at the École Polytechnique and École des Mines in Paris. He was named engineer of mines in 1818, and assumed the rôle as head of the collections of the École des Mines. At that same institution, he was appointed an assistant professor of mineralogy in 1827, becoming a full professor in 1835. In 1846, he was named director of the school. His Traite de Mineralogie is an important mineralogical and crystallographic work in the history of those sciences.
Advances in the chemical composition of mineral species allowed Dufrénoy to employ chemistry as a means of mineral classification. Dufreny combine all observations made in the science under a single, unified explanation. He believed that using the bases to classify metals, gave birth to true natural groups in which there was one common element. For example, all those of lead, all those of copper, and all those of iron. The atlas volume contains 236 engraved plates showing more than 1,200 crystal diagrams with references to Naumann's crystal notation. The first edition appeared in 1844-1847. The second edition is greatly expanded. The atlas contains a section on Mohs crystal notation and crystal notation in general. The plates of the atlas show crystal drawings, while the plates in volume one of the text show various mineralogical apparatus.