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A truly encyclopedic work on magnetism

KIRCHER, Athanasius.
Magnes, sive de arte magnetica. Opus tripartitum, quo universa magnetis natura, eiusque in omnibus scientijs & artibus usus, nova methodo explicatur: ac praeterea e viribus & prodigiosis effectibus magneticarum, aliarumque abditarum naturae motionum in elementis, lapidibus, plantis, animalibus, elucescentium, multa hucusque incognita natura arcana, per physica, medica,chymica, & mathematica omnis generis experimenta recluduntur.

With richly engraved hermetic and symbolic frontispiece by F. Valentius, large engraved double publisher's devices on title; title printed in red and black; full-page engraved emblematic plate for the dedication with the portrait of Emperor Ferdinand IV in the centre; 34 mostly full-page engraved plates; 215 woodcut illustrations, about 50 tables and several examples of musical scores in the text.

With richly engraved hermetic and symbolic frontispiece by F. Valentius, large engraved double publisher's devices on title; title printed in red and black; full-page engraved emblematic plate for the dedication with the portrait of Emperor Ferdinand IV in the centre; 34 mostly full-page engraved plates; 215 woodcut illustrations, about 50 tables and several examples of musical scores in the text.

With richly engraved hermetic and symbolic frontispiece by F. Valentius, large engraved double publisher's devices on title; title printed in red and black; full-page engraved emblematic plate for the dedication with the portrait of Emperor Ferdinand IV in the centre; 34 mostly full-page engraved plates; 215 woodcut illustrations, about 50 tables and several examples of musical scores in the text.

With richly engraved hermetic and symbolic frontispiece by F. Valentius, large engraved double publisher's devices on title; title printed in red and black; full-page engraved emblematic plate for the dedication with the portrait of Emperor Ferdinand IV in the centre; 34 mostly full-page engraved plates; 215 woodcut illustrations, about 50 tables and several examples of musical scores in the text.

With richly engraved hermetic and symbolic frontispiece by F. Valentius, large engraved double publisher's devices on title; title printed in red and black; full-page engraved emblematic plate for the dedication with the portrait of Emperor Ferdinand IV in the centre; 34 mostly full-page engraved plates; 215 woodcut illustrations, about 50 tables and several examples of musical scores in the text.



Rome, Vitalis Mascardi, for Blasius Deversin & Zanobius Masotti, 1654. Folio. Contemporary vellum. With richly engraved hermetic and symbolic frontispiece by F. Valentius, large engraved double publisher's devices on title; title printed in red and black; full-page engraved emblematic plate for the dedication with the portrait of Emperor Ferdinand IV in the centre; 34 mostly full-page engraved plates; 215 woodcut illustrations, about 50 tables and several examples of musical scores in the text. (32), 618, (28) pp.

The third much enlarged, thoroughly revised and best edition, of one of the major scientific works by the famous German Jesuit scholar, Athanasius Kircher (1602-1680), a truly encyclopedic work on magnetism. Born in Mainz, Kircher was educated in the humanities, natural science, and the various disciplines of 17th century mathematics. He also studied hieroglyphics and observed the sunspots with a telescope of his own invention, before he was, in 1628, appointed professor  in philosophy and mathematics, and in Hebrew and Eastern languages as well, at the University of Würzburg. Here he also experimented with medicine and chemistry. Still in Würzburg he published in 1631 his first major work, his Ars Magnetica, in which he extensively reports on his invention of a method for measuring magnetic power by means of a balance. The present copy is the third and best edition of this work.
Because of the  30-Year's War Kircher fled with his best pupil Caspar Scott to  France were he was appointed professor at Avignon, where he met  Hevelius and Gassendi and corresponded with Schreiner. In 1633 he was appointed by Ferdinand II as professor in mathematics at Vienna, but on his journey he arrived by chance in Rome, where, in 1638, he was appointed professor of  mathematics at the College in Rome, where he lectured for eight  years. Then he withdrew to devote himself entirely to his studies and his scientific experiments, all in all spending some forty-six years of working and studying in private. At the time Rome was the centre of a worldwide network of Jesuit missionaries and others who reported on their journeys and new discoveries. Kircher's studies and experiments covered practically all fields in both the humanities and the sciences. He wanted to comprehend as well as to disseminate all the knowledge that was available at his time. Kircher published some 44 books and left over 2,000  letters and manuscripts, now in the Vatican Library. He published several richly illustrated compendia in various fields which became very popular, like an encyclopedic work on music, Musurgia Universalis, published at Rome in 1650, an encyclopedic work on optics, Ars Magna lucis et umbrae, published at Rome in 1646, and of course the present work on magnetism, which was for Kircher an omnibus of scientific and also phantastic theories. He researched and measured magnetism in all fields, in cosmology,  astronomy, geography, optics, ectricity, medicine,  metals, animals, music, love, etc. The numerous plates and illustrations depict magnetism in the spheres, magnetic calendars, compasses, astrolabes, experiments with magnets in art and nature, etc. Of interest are Kircher's theories on electricity and most remarkable are his expositions on musical magnetism.
Fine copy.Fine copy, with the bookplate of M. Hyacinth Theodor Baron.- (Binding slightly stained; small defects to lower border of first leaves; some occasional browning).
De Backer-Sommervogel IV, 1048-9; Caillet 5780; Poggendorff I, 1258-9; Wheeler Gift 116 a; DSB 7, pp. 374-378; cf. Kemp, The Science of Art, p. 280-1, passim.

Related Subjects: Astronomy & Cosmography  Science 

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