Kircher, Athanasius | Third edition of Kircher’s celebrated survey of the hidden structures of the earth

Kircher, Athanasius 

Mundus subterraneus, in XII libros digestus. Amsterdam: apud Joannem Janssonium a Waesberge & filios, 1678

Two volumes, folio (378 x 241 mm). Two engraved title-pages by T. Matham after J. P. Schor and A. Siourtsmas after C. van de Pas, each with engraved vignette, 20 engraved plates and maps (including double-page and folding examples), numerous engraved and woodcut text illustrations, diagrams, and tables; portraits lacking, short tears to a few folding plates, occasional browning, scattered foxing, dampstaining in top and bottom margins. Contemporary stiff vellum; warped, worn, particularly at head and foot of spine, joints cracked.

Third edition of Kircher’s celebrated survey of the hidden structures of the earth—its volcanoes, subterranean rivers, minerals, fossils, winds, and atmospheric phenomena. Inspired by his encounters with the eruptions of Etna and Stromboli in 1637–38, Kircher sought to construct a unified model of the subterranean world, richly illustrated with cross-sections, geological diagrams, and speculative maps of the earth’s internal fires and waters.

REFERENCES

Merrill 17; Nissen ZBI 2196; Wellcome III, p. 395; cf. Brunet III, 667

PROVENANCE

Sotheby’s New York, 1 January 2002, lot 111