Trattato del legno fossile minerale nuovamente scoperto nel quale brevemente si accenna la varia, & mutabil natura di detto legno - photo 1
Trattato del legno fossile minerale nuovamente scoperto nel quale brevemente si accenna la varia, & mutabil natura di detto legno - photo 2
Trattato del legno fossile minerale nuovamente scoperto nel quale brevemente si accenna la varia, & mutabil natura di detto legno - photo 3
Trattato del legno fossile minerale nuovamente scoperto nel quale brevemente si accenna la varia, & mutabil natura di detto legno - photo 4

Trattato del legno fossile minerale nuovamente scoperto nel quale brevemente si accenna la varia, & mutabil natura di detto legno

Lot 49
02.02.2024 10:00UTC -05:00
Classic
Starting price
$ 3 200
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUSA, New York
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 1129667
Lot 49 | Trattato del legno fossile minerale nuovamente scoperto nel quale brevemente si accenna la varia, & mutabil natura di detto legno
Estimate value
$ 4 000 – 6 000
STELLUTI, Francesco (1577-1652). Trattato del legno fossile minerale nuovamente scoperto nel quale brevemente si accenna la varia, & mutabil natura di detto legno. Rome: Vitale Mascardi, 1637

A lovely, crisp copy of the first edition of Stelluti’s stunningly illustrated treatise on fossilized woods found in the region of Todi in Umbria, "the earliest separate treatise on fossil plants" (Edwards). "This work was based closely on [Federico] Cesi’s theories of a class of 'metallophytes' intermediate between metal and plants" (DSB). Stelluti and Cesi, along with Johannes Eck, were the founders of the Accademia dei Lincei. Here, Stelluti in some ways distorts Cesi’s findings, careful to avoid any implication that these fossilized specimens might indicate a sequence of creation differing from scripture.

"The brief introduction to the treatise reiterated, in an imprecise manner, the accepted interpretation of fossil formation and Stelluti maintained the same approach in the few pages of commentary. Such a superficial treatment of Cesi’s research was in accord with the recommendations of Francesco Barberini, the 'Cardinal Protector' of the Accademia dei Lincei, to whom the treatise is dedicated. In the wake of the scandal over Galileo’s discoveries, Barberini, himself elected to the Lincei in 1623, endeavored to prevent Rome’s intellectual elite from becoming involved in new and dangerous debates" (The Paper Museum of Cassiono dal Posso). The original drawings for these engravings are now at Windsor, stemming from the collection of Cassiano dal Pozzo, who assisted in the publication of this work. Ward and Carozzi 2107; Nissen ZBI 3989. See W.N. Edwards, The early history of paleontology (1967), and The Paper Museum of Cassiono dal Posso (British Museum, 1993, pp 149 and 216-17).

Folio (310 x 214mm). Title within ornamental border, with woodcut Lincei device. 13 engraved plates, 2 of which are double-page. Modern green quarter morocco and marbled boards. Provenance: some underlining.
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
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