Beschreibung:

KIRCHER, Athanasius (1602-1680). Mundus subterraneus, in XII libros digestus ... editio tertia . Amsterdam: apud Johannem Janssonium à Waesberge & Filios, 1678. 2 volumes, 2° (355 x 226mm). Letterpress title to volume I with engraved vignette, engraved title to vol.II by Theodor Matham after Johann Paul Schor engraved additional title to vol.I by Anthonie Siourtsma after Crispijn van de Passe. 21 engraved plates and maps, including 2 intended to form components of volvelles and 13 folding. 73 engraved illustrations, 3 full-page. 4 letterpress tables, 3 folding. (Without portraits of Kircher and Pope Alexander VII, some plates close-shaved, three shaved into image area along upper margin, 2 plates with clean tears into image area.) 18th-century mottled calf, spines gilt, uniform with lots 67-69, 71 (later lettering-pieces, chips to head and foot of spines, joints of vol.I somewhat split, corners bumped). Provenance : Antony David (early inscription: 'Antonii Dvid et amicorum'). Third edition. Graesse does not call for the portrait of Pope Alexander VII (who had died in 1667) in this edition, and it may be that the author's portrait is not required either -- according to auction records it is often not present. This celebrated work, based on Kircher's experiences of the eruption of Vesuvius in 1637 and the 14 days of earthquakes that shook Calabria in 1638, attempts to show that the subterranean world is composed of two interlocking systems of fire and water, and even though some of its theories were wildly mistaken it represents the first serious effort to describe the physical makeup of the earth. The world map (Shirley, The Mapping of the World 436) was one of the earliest to show ocean currents with any degree of accuracy. In the present copy the two inserted plates bearing the mobile components of the volvelles have not been assembled onto the plates, but remain complete. Brunet III, 667; Graesse IV, p. 21; cf. Norman 1218 (first edition). (2)