Du Molinet, Le cabinet de la Bibliothèque de Sainte Geneviève, Paris, 1692, contemporary mottled calf, large-paper copy

DU MOLINET, CLAUDE. Le cabinet de la Bibliothèque de Sainte-Geneviève. Divisé en deux parties. Contenant les antiquitez de la réligion des Chrétiens, des Egyptiens, & des Romains; des tombeaux, des poids & des médailles; des monnoyes, des pierres antiques gravées, & des mineraux... des Coquilles les plus considérables, des fruits étrangers, & quelques plantes exquises. Paris: Antoine Dezallier, 1692

FIRST EDITION, LARGE PAPER COPY of this description of the famous cabinet of curiosities gathered at the Abbey of Sainte-Geneviève by Du Molinet, director of the library from 1675. The work is divided into two parts. The first is devoted to antiquities, the second to natural history. The plates represent the library and the various "buffets garnis de tablettes" populated with rare birds, petrifications, branches of coral, medals, engraved stones, clothing and weapons from various countries, musical instruments, minerals, clocks, etc. The cabinet also brought together all sorts of unusual animals and natural curiosities, including a Brazilian lizard, rhinoceros, giraffe and unicorn horns, a hippopotamus tooth, a mermaid's hand, a mandrake, etc. The preface specifies the "démonstrative", educational and scientific vocation of the collection, some of which came from the famous Aix scholar, Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc. Through this desire for classification, coupled with a presentation that is both careful and didactic, this collection is of great importance for the history of museography.