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A FUNDAMENTAL WORK OF MODERN CRYSTALLOGRAPHY - VERY RARE LARGE PAPER COPY. First edition, a magnificent and very rare large paper copy (both larger and printed on thicker paper than the octavo issue), of one of the fundamental works of modern crystallography; it appeared 12 years before Haüy s Essai d une Théorie sur la Structure des Cristaux. Romé de L Isle established that various shapes of crystals of the same natural or artificial substance are all closely related to each other. Measurements he took with a goniometer enabled him to determine that the angles between corresponding faces of a crystal are always the same, which earlier had only been described in specific cases, in particular by Niels Steno (this is often described as the first law of crystallography). In addition, he demonstrated that these angles are a characteristic of mineral type, introduced the concept of truncation, and also enlarged the crystallographic vocabulary. He "identified 110 crystal forms (drawing upon Linnaeus, who had listed forty) and described in minute detail the minerals that exhibited them. He subdivided the various substances into salts, stones, pyrites, and metallic minerals, stating that he agreed with Linnaeus that geometrical form is the chief characteristic by which minerals may be classified. Also like Linnaeus, he held that saline principles imprinted their own geometrical form upon the earthy constituent of each mineral" (DSB). "Very scarce. The Cristallographie ranks as one of the great contributions to the science of crystals. In it Romé de L Isle attempted to make a comprehensive classification of crystals. By the time he wrote his volume he was extremely familiar with the subject and this work greatly surpassed all previous works in scope and detail. To apply his classification, he adopted a morphological approach in which he attempted to relate the diverse forms of crystals of the same substance. As a general morphological concept he introduced the idea of the primitive form . All crystals of the same inorganic substance, no matter how different in appearance, had a fundamental and common geometrical form the primitive form to which their actual crystal shapes related … In this first edition of the Cristallographie, Romé de L Isle identifies 110 crystal forms by which minerals crystallize. Grouped under each of these shapes are describe the minerals that exhibit similar habits, including the approximate angles between crystal faces. These forms were all derived from a common saline ingredient in every mineral that worked at a molecular level" (Schuh). Pages xii-xxviii contain an annotated bibliography of the principal works on crystals. The only large paper copy listed by ABPC/RBH is the Norman-Freilich copy, but our copy is significantly larger than even that copy (265 x 205mm versus 249 x 193mm). "Romé, the son of a lieutenant in the cavalry, studied humanities at the Collège Ste. Barbe in Paris. In 1756 he entered the Royal Corps of Artillery and Engineering, which he accompanied, as a secretary, to the French Indies in the following year. From 1758 until 1761 he was in the enclave of Pondicherry, French India. When it fell to the English in 1761, Romé was taken prisoner and transported to China, where he stayed until 1764, when he returned to France" (DSB). "Romé de L Isle had started collecting minerals during his travels as a naval officer. Back in Paris after the Indian Wars, he was introduced into mineralogy by the apothecary, chemist and mineralogist Balthazar Georges Sage (1740-1824), who became his friend. It was very fashionable at the time in Paris to have a mineral collection. The owner of an important private collection, Pedro Francisco Davila, wanted to sell his. At Sage s suggestion, he asked Romé de L Isle to draw up the inventory. Romé made a very thorough job of it, the inventory running up to three thick volumes. This was his first work on mineralogy, published in 1767 [Catalogue systématique et ra. Seller Inventory # 5371
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