Valentini - (vol. 1/3 complete) Museum Museorum - 1714

Valentini Michael Bernhard

Museum Museorum, or Complete
View the stage of all materials and delicacies.

Frankfurt - 1714 -
Zunner

(14), 520, (4), 76, 119, (12) p.;
(12), 196, 116 pages.
(4), 228, (11) p.;

In large folio - 38 x 24 x 12 cm.

Origin: Dr. Kurt Herbert


The Most Valuable Contribution to Studies on Wunderkammer

The Museum of Museums, the first study on European collections.

The Wonders of Valentini's World
NISSEN BBI 2035
NISSEN ZBI 4217
PRITZEL 9663
SABIN 98357
SCHLOSSER 1884

First edition, absolutely complete, including the second edition of vol. I and
The first editions of volumes II and III, all printed in a single monumental edition in Frankfurt in 1714.

A specimen of the same edition sold at auction some time ago, at a famous house.
London auction, for €32,760.

Three volumes in a single large volume (7 kg).
It contains two engraved titles added, 97 plates (many foldouts), 287 illustrations, and several other figures engraved in the text.

A wonderful and very precious collection, especially if complete like this specimen, of works of great charm, for one of the most beautiful illustrated texts of the baroque era, with an inexhaustible repertoire of all overseas products from the late 17th century.
Valentini also describes all the known natural history specimen cabinets.

Valentini was Mangravio's personal doctor.
d’Assia is a professor of experimental sciences and medicine at Giessen.
His Museum Museorum is the most valuable contribution to the study of Wunderkammer, as it reprints many catalogs of ancient collections and provides a list of all known museums.
At the time, about 159 museums.

Valentini also includes a catalog of his cabinet in Giessen, illustrates the interior of the Royal Library and the Raritaten-Kammer in Vienna, and offers an unusual view of the bear pit (with an elaborate fountain, 'tree houses,' and spectators protruding over the enclosure).
Dresden Zoo

The first part describes plants (including American specimens), animals, flowers, herbs, many of which are used in pharmaceutical preparations.
There are sections on tobacco, coffee, tea, cocoa, sugar, cotton, silk, minerals, metals, and animal husbandry.

The second part deals with geological samples, jewelry, fossils, coins, shells, tropical plants, monsters, unicorns, and other mythical creatures.
Various plates present a first attempt at reconstructing fossil skeletons.
A separate appendix, Ost. Indianish Send-Schreiben, is a collection of Rumph, Kaempfer.
Ten Rhyn and others, about the rarities, mostly botanical, of the East Indies.

The third part is dedicated to natural history and physics, with descriptions of Boyle's pneumatic pump, acoustic devices, and optical devices.
Lana's dirigible (with suggestions for other aeronautical machines), a chapter on the dowsing rod, the magnet, and others.

Excellent, sturdy, and integrated 20th-century-style binding in half parchment with reinforced corners.
rigid marbleized decorated tiles
Manuscript with the author's name and title on the spine.

Very well-preserved interiors, with compact, fresh, and clean cards.
The only defect to report is the slight browning of the pages (as always present in this edition), due to the paper quality.
However, all 97 engraved plates (many foldouts), the two engraved titles, the 287 illustrations, all the engraved figures in the text, as well as the title pages and eyelets, all present, are perfectly usable and accessible.
Modern guards
Very small prestigious paper ex libris on the rear cover (easily removable) and on the rear endpaper, bearing: Dr. Kurt Herbert (1901/1989), a famous German chemist, entrepreneur, and author, founder of the Wuppertal-based varnish company Herberts, and an important 20th-century bibliophile.

Wonderful and very important text.
complete in every part
Settled. Complete.