Anselmus Boetius de Boodt

Anselmus Boetius de Boodt

Mineralogy & Gemstones.- Boodt (Anselmus Boetius de) Gemmarum et Lapidum Historia, third edition, 2 folding letterpress tables, woodcut illustrations in text, final f. blank, A5-&7 neat short tear at foot, within text, but without loss, Leiden, Joannes Maire, 1647 bound with, as often Laet (Johannes de) De gemmis et lapidibus libri duo, woodcut illustrations in text, Leiden, Joannes Maire, 1647, together 2 works in 1 vol., titles with woodcut printers device, woodcut head-pieces and decorative initials, occasional spotting and light staining, new endpapers, contemporary calf, rebacked, gilt spine in compartments and with black leather label, 8vo

⁂ De Boodt, a physician from Bruges, 'made the first attempt at a systematic description of minerals, dividing the minerals into great and small, rare and common, hard and soft, combustible and incombustible, transparent and opaque...There are also tables of values of diamonds according to their size and a short description of the polishing of precious stones.' (DSB).