ALBERTUS MAGNUS. De mineralibus. [28] leaves. Gothic type. Folio, 288x206 mm, later stiff...

ALBERTUS MAGNUS. De mineralibus. [28] leaves. Gothic type. Folio, 288x206 mm, later stiff wrappers with dampstain on front cover and remnant of shelf label; scattered minor stains and marginal soiling, neat early marginalia mostly naming stones and gems discussed in the text, engraved and metalcut decorative matter excised from 16th-century printed books mounted in upper and lower margins on recto of first leaf with adhesive discoloration on verso. Purchase inscription in Italian dated 1588 on front flyleaf. wide-margined copy. (Pavia: Christophorus de Canibus, 18 June 1491)

Estimate $3,000 - 5,000

Second edition of a work written in the mid-13th century and first printed in 1476, "one of the best and most comprehensive of the western medieval lapidaries" (Adams). H 521* bis; GW 687; ISTC ia00280000 (23 holding institutions, including only the Library of Congress and National Library of Medicine in the U. S.); Adams, The Birth and Development of the Geological Sciences, page 144; Schuh, Albertus Magnus 2.

Price Realized (with Buyer's Premium) $17,500