KESTLER, Joannes Stephanus Physiologia Kircheriana experimentalis, qua summa argumentorum multitudine & varietate naturalium rerum scientia per experimenta physica, mathematica, medica, chymica, musica, magnetica, mechanica comprobatur atque...
Estimation :
2000 / 3000
Adjudication :
4000 €
Description
stabilitur. Quam ex vastis operibus (…) Athanisii Kircheri extraxit (…). 1680Amsterdam,Janssonius - Van Waesberge Press,folio, cont. marbled sheep (stained), richly gilt spine (def. at head and tail, joints sl. splitting), [8]-248-[8] pp. (occ. minor spotting, blank upper margin of frontisp. cut off). Good copy.
"A codification of Kircher's scientific observations and experiments, edited by his pupil Joannes Kestler and published the year of Kircher's death. Naturally there are large sections on light and shadow, magnetism, acoustics, and music; but there are also experiments and observations in hydraulics, alchemy, and a myriad of other topics. This compendium was perhaps a response to entreaties from Kircher's fellow scientists, who appreciated his keen observations and experiments but did not care to wade through some 40 volumes to glean them" (Merrill). Ill. with a frontisp., 8 engravings and some 180 small woodcuts. The work includes a discussion of the magic lantern (which Kircher did not invent, although he did publish a study of its principles in his "Ars magna lucis et umbrae" [1646]), and the 1st recorded experiment on hypnosis of animals. The Jesuit polymath and experimentalist Athanasius Kircher was one of the scientific stars of the 17th century. He was the first scholar to enjoy a global reputation, and the first to support himself financially through the sale of his books. Kircher produced some forty treatises "on virtually every imaginable aspect of ancient and modern knowledge", each one "demonstrat[ing] his dizzying array of linguistic, paleographic, historical, and scientific skills, and ... advertis[ing] his myriad inventions, possession of strange and exotic artifacts, and mysterious manuscripts" (Findlen)." (J. Norman). Printed in 2 cols. Libr. stamps.
"A codification of Kircher's scientific observations and experiments, edited by his pupil Joannes Kestler and published the year of Kircher's death. Naturally there are large sections on light and shadow, magnetism, acoustics, and music; but there are also experiments and observations in hydraulics, alchemy, and a myriad of other topics. This compendium was perhaps a response to entreaties from Kircher's fellow scientists, who appreciated his keen observations and experiments but did not care to wade through some 40 volumes to glean them" (Merrill). Ill. with a frontisp., 8 engravings and some 180 small woodcuts. The work includes a discussion of the magic lantern (which Kircher did not invent, although he did publish a study of its principles in his "Ars magna lucis et umbrae" [1646]), and the 1st recorded experiment on hypnosis of animals. The Jesuit polymath and experimentalist Athanasius Kircher was one of the scientific stars of the 17th century. He was the first scholar to enjoy a global reputation, and the first to support himself financially through the sale of his books. Kircher produced some forty treatises "on virtually every imaginable aspect of ancient and modern knowledge", each one "demonstrat[ing] his dizzying array of linguistic, paleographic, historical, and scientific skills, and ... advertis[ing] his myriad inventions, possession of strange and exotic artifacts, and mysterious manuscripts" (Findlen)." (J. Norman). Printed in 2 cols. Libr. stamps.
