John Underwood Antiquarian Books - Rare and Antiquarian Books and Manuscripts

SCHOTT (P. Gaspard) (KASPAR) PHYSICA CURIOSA, sive Mirabilia Naturae et artis libris XII. Comprehensa, quibus pleraque, quae de Angelis, Daemonibus, Hominibus, Spectris, Energumenis, Monstris, Portentis, Animalibus, Meteoris, &c. rara, arcana, curiosa … Herbipoli (Wurzburg), J. A. Endteri & Wolfgangi, 1667, 2 parts, quarto; Vol 1: blank leaf ,half title, engraved front., 26 unnumbered leaves, 1-676 pp., Vol 11: blank leaves, title then 678-1389 ,Index. 61 engraved plates, some of which unfolding, bound in 2 thick volumes full contemp. ivory vellum, title inscribed in ink, a few stains, usual foxing, and some browning, pronounced in some sections, otherwise a good and complete copy. (Manuscript ex-libris of 17th Century Ottaviano Ginsile) Second edition, much more complete than the first ,published in 1662, of this rare book written by the German Jesuit scholar, a friend and disciple of Kircher. It is one of the best essays relating to the natural history and physics as they were known in the 17th century. The author has included “monsters” of the human species, (headless man, woman with 7 heads, elephant man, hairy people, etc.) as well as strange animals, whether real or imaginary. Furthermore, 52 chapters are devoted to the angels, demons, their curses, their dealings with witches, incubus and succubus, spectres, etc. Among the 4 new plates, there is the one representing the fight between Dieudonné de Gazo and the winged dragon of Rhodes in 1345: Wheeler n°150: "Voluminous work on the wonders of animate nature and of physical phenomena". - Thorndike Hist. of Magic and Experimental Science VII p. 590 - DSB XII, 211 "The Physica Curiosa contains his most complete discussion of angels, demons, and witchcraft in his survey of the angelic worlds. He also discusses the animal, and physical world, always with an eye to the curious and bizarre." A Very Good copy of an extraordinary work

condition: Very Good

binding: Vellum