Río, Andrés Manuel de | Elementos de Orictognosia

Río, Andrés Manuel de

Elementos de Orictognosia, o del Conocimiento de los Fosiles... segun los Principios de A. G. Werner... Primera Parte, que comprehende las Tierras, Piedras, y Sales. Mexico: Felipe de Zúñiga y Ontiveros, 1795

4to (202 x 150 mm). Contemporary vellum; lightly soiled, minor wear.

First edition of the first mineralogical textbook published in the Americas—and the earliest systematic exposition of Wernerian mineralogy in Spanish. Andrés Manuel del Río, a student of Abraham Gottlob Werner at Freiberg, brought Werner’s classification to the New World, later expanding it through his own studies of Mexican geology. In 1795 he became the first professor of mineralogy at the newly founded Colegio de Minería in Mexico City. The work introduced European mineralogical science to Latin America and marks the beginning of modern geological study in the region. The second part appeared in 1805.

REFERENCES:

Palau 268177; Schuh 4121; Sabin 71443

PROVENANCE:

Carl Krotki (Swann Galleries, 8 December 1994, lot 276)