Author: Bergman, T. O.
Title: Manuel du minéralogiste, ou sciagraphie du règne minéral, distribué d'apres l'analyse chimique. Par M. Torbern Bergman ... Mise au jour par M. Ferber, professeur de chimie à Mittaw. Et traduite et augmentée de notes par M. Mongez le jeune, chanoine régulier de Sainte-Geneviève, auteur du Journal de Physique, & membre de plusieurs académies.
Description: Paris, Cuchet, 1784. 8vo (19.5 x 12.5 cm). xxxviii, 343 pp., one engraved plate. Contemporary half calf over marbled boards. Spine with gilt floral pattern and title. Edges speckled red. = First French edition of the first classification of minerals on a chemical basis, first published in Swedish. The author is the Swedish mineralogist, correspondent of Linnaeus, and fellow of the Royal Society of London, Torbern Olof Bergman (1735-1784). He introduced the use of letters to identify chemical elements. This edition was updated by the Swedish born mineralogist Johann Jacob Ferber (1743-1790), then professor in "Mittaw" (= Mittau, now Jelgava, in Latvia), and translated by the French mineralogist Antoine Mongez (1747-1835), brother of the mineralogist Jean-André, who died while on the ill-fated scientific expedition to the South Sea with La Pérouse. Boards rubbed, rebacked, old stamp "De Prony", at the bottom of the title page. A very good copy. Ward and Carozzi, 178.

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