KIRCHER. China monumentis. 1667. In-folio, fawn speckled cal - Lot 129

Lot 129
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KIRCHER. China monumentis. 1667. In-folio, fawn speckled cal - Lot 129
KIRCHER. China monumentis. 1667. In-folio, fawn speckled calf, decorated spine, red coin, smooth edges (Dutch binding at the time). Cordier, Sinica, col. 26. - Merrill, No. 20. Original edition of one of the beautiful books on China, illustrated with a title-frontispiece, a portrait of Kircher, 2 double-page maps, 23 plates and 59 figures engraved in intaglio in the text representing Asian characters, costumes, deities, animals, plants and the 10 fabulous incarnations of Hindu gods. Athanase Kircher, a Jesuit father born in 1602 in Ghysen, Germany, and who died in 1680 in Rome, was one of the most famous and important scientists of the Baroque period, a scholar with a prodigious memory and a somewhat visionary spirit, who was well versed in many fields: mathematics, physics, philosophy, etc. He was also one of the most important scientists of the Baroque period. His written work is considerable and deals with a wide variety of subjects. He embodied, in the words of Joscelyn Godwin, a Renaissance man in search of lost knowledge. In this book on China, Kircher deals with the history of China, the religion of the Chinese, their government, the natural wonders of the country, architecture, mechanical arts, language and writing; the book contains the first description of Lhasa and central Tibet, by Dorville and Crane; similarly, the kingdom of Nepal is mentioned for the first time in a European publication. Edges of the binding partly gnawed, broad skin, split jaws, first plate detached.
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