Histoire des Drogues, traitant des Plantes, des Animaux, & des Mineraux ; Ouvrage enrichy de plus de quatre cent Figures en Taille-douce tirées d'après Nature ; avec un discours qui explique leurs différents noms, les Pays d'où elles viennent, la maniere de connoître les Veritables d'avec les Falsifiées, & leurs proprietez, où l'on découvre l'erreur des Anciens & des Modernes ; Le tout tres utile au Public. Par le sieur Pierre Pomet, Marchand Epicier & Droguiste. First folio edition, published during the author's lifetime, 3 parts bound in 1 large and thick and heavy folio volume of approximately: 1f. blank, a half-title, a full-page frontispiece portrait signed A. le Clerc le Jeune, (5) ff. (a title page in red and black, epistre, preface, approvals). First part: paginated from 1 to 264 followed by 233, 234, 335, 236 237 until page 304 (continuous text) Second Part: from 1 to 108, and Third Part: from 1 to 116, 19 table leaves, 1f. blank Complete with the portrait of Pierre Pomet, which disappears in the 1735 edition in 2 volumes, made by his son. First edition of this remarkable work which for a long time remained the best and most complete on materia medica. The first part deals with plants, the second with animals and the third with minerals. Abundant illustration engraved in intaglio, including a beautiful portrait of the author as a frontispiece, by A. Le Clerc the younger, an out-of-text plate on the Manner of purifying quicksilver and more than 400 figures in the text showing many rare plants, animals, drugs and spices, some of which are quite curious, but also how cane sugar, indigo, annatto, silk, tobacco, tea, coffee, cocoa, etc. are produced . A fine copy of a text often found in delapidated condition. Pierre Pomet was a French pharmacist (1658 -- 1699). After being an apprentice, he traveled to Italy, Germany, Great Britain and Holland. He returns to Paris where he opens a pharmacy store in Paris, rue des Lombards "à la Barbe d'or", where one could find "all the Materials he Deals with, [.], with the exception of those which are rare in France". Pomet was invited to the King's Garden to demonstrate his remedies. He published his treatise listed here in 1694 after realizing that several notes and drawings had been stolen from him; the suspects were brought before the courts, but Pomet did not obtain compensation. He quickly acquired a great reputation and gave courses to explain the manufacture of his products. He regularly published catalogues of simple or compound drugs from his vast collection as well as the description of his cabinet of curiosities. In addition, its quality is also valid for its very rich engraved illustrations which represents more than 400 plants, drugs, rare fruits and spices (tea, coffee, cocoa), animals (including the unicorn), but also processes for the preparation of sugar cane, tobacco, indigo, silk, whale cutting, etc. The coverage is, to say the least, ambitious, and deals with animals, plants and minerals. The illustrations are accurate, precise, based on Pomet's travels and wide reading and, as is often the case, they mix fantasy and reality with some spectacular results. That said, the book was very widely used by physicians and surgeons. The binding has been very meticulously restored, and there are new pastedowns and endpapers. A very rare FINE copy of a book seldom found in this condition. Pritzel, n°7258 – Nissen, ZBI, n°3218 – Plesch, 367 – Hunt, n°391.