Schreibers, Carl von | One of the earliest books on meteorites

Schreibers, Carl von

Beyträge zur Geschichte und Kenntniß meteorischer Stein- und Metall-Massen, und der Erscheinungen, welche deren Niederfallen zu begleiten pflegen. Vienna: Heubner, 1820

Folio (389 x 278 mm). Ten lithographed plates (one double-page, one a map); browned. Modern half cloth, marbled boards, original printed wrappers bound in.

First edition of a very early lithographically-illustrated book, and one of the earliest books on meteorites. The large double-page plate shows the Agram (now Hraschina) meteorite. The map of the Stannern area gives exact locations, weights, and names of those who found the Stannern meteorite. “Originally issued as a supplement to E.F.F. Chladni's Ueber Feuer-Meteore (Vienna: J.G. Heubner, 1819), as mentioned on the title. The Beyträge

was, however, issued again separately in 1820 by the same publisher. The re-issue differs from by omitting the phrase ‘als Nachtrag ... und einer Karte’ (and thus the reference to Chladni) on the title and by having an engraved title vignette and additional pages of text (viii, 97 p., IX [i.e. 11] leaves of plates)” (Smithsonian). The present copy has the phrase “als Nachtrag…” on the title indicating that it may be an intermediary state, and it ends on page 92. Other copies also often lack pages 93-97, containing the list of the collection. Plate IX has the upper part of the plate (where the caption usually appears) cropped, with the plate number and caption printed at the top of a gray sheet of paper inserted behind the plate. This is recorded in other copies, including that at the Smithsonian.

Schuh: “Rare. The earliest work showing nature-printing of minerals, a process which was later called 'Mineralographie' by Alois Auer. Mr. P. Heilmann an authority on nature printing calls it 'Typennaturselbstdruck' and in an article in the Österreichische Apotheker-Zeitung of 1980. Schreibers' slim volume, a landmark first edition of the iconography of meteorites, features nature-printed illustrations, where the ‘nature’ in question is a meteorite (not the customary inked leaf or flower). The lithographic plates number among the earliest products of this method of book illustration; some, borrowing a term from early printing in Europe, call them ‘incunables of lithography.’"

REFERENCES

Schuh 4347