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"HAÜY, L'ABBÉ (RENE-JUST). - THE FIRST SCIENTIFIC GEMOLOGY
Traité des Caractères physiques des Pierres Précieuses, pour servir a leur determination lorsqu'elles ont été taillées.
Paris, Courcier, 1817. Contemp. hcalf. Richly gilt spine. Tome-and titlelabels with gilt lettering. An old repair to spine at upper compartment. Some small cracks to leather at spine. Spine a bit rubbed. XVI,XXII,253 pp. and 3 large folded engraved plates with many figs. showing crystal forms and Nicholson's hydrometer. Some scattered brownspots, mainly at margins. A wide-margined copy.
Reference : 44518
Scarce first edition of Haüys landmark work on the crystallography of gemstones. Haüy had already in 1784 demonstrated the constancy of aspects of the geometric form of the individual crystals and hereby he laid the foundation stones of the science of Crystallography in general. In the offered work he applies his crystal-discoveries of the constancy of angles to the cutting of gems, thus providing us with the first handbook to show how to determine different kinds of gemstones, and he thereby also founded the science of Gemology. ""He hypothesized that each crystal was built up of successive additions of what we now call a ""unit cell"" to form - in the absence of external inteference - a simple geometric shape with constant angles and with sides trhat could be related by simple integral ratios. he maintained that an identity of difference in crystalline form implied an identity or difference in chemical composition. This was the beginning of the science of crystallograpy, which was to attain maturity over a century later with the development of X-ray techniques by Laue and Bragg.""(Asimov).
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2 book(s) with the same title
Traité des caractères physiques des pierres précieuses, pour servir à leur détermination lorsqu'elles ont été taillées.
1817, XVI (table), XXII, 253 p., 16 p. (Notice des principaux ouvrages (.) composant la librairie Mme Ve Courcier), 3 planches dépliantes gravées sur cuivre (complet). In-8, demi-vélin blanc doré à coins, plats en tabis rose, pièce de titre, dos orné, tranches mouchetées, reliure XIXe.
L'Abbé Haüy (1743-1822) enseigne la minéralogie au Muséum national d'histoire naturelle avant que ne soit créée spécialement pour lui en 1809 une chaire à la Sorbonne. Grand classique de la minéralogie - dont la valeur à toujours cours -, cet ouvrage permet l'identification des pierres, la détermination de leur caractère et les principes de leur taille. Grâce aux recherches passionnées de l'Abbé Haüy, la minéralogie et la cristallographie ont acquis un véritable statut scientifique. Rousseurs éparses en début de volume. Édition originale très élégamment reliée.
Traité des caractères physiques des pierres précieuses pour servir à leur détermination lorsqu'elles ont été taillées -- EDITION ORIGINALE -- BEL EXEMPLAIRE
P., Courcier, 1817, un volume in 8 relié en pleine basane racinée, dos orné de fers dorés, (reliure de l'époque), (petite épidermure sur le second plat de la reliure), 22pp., 253pp., 3 planches dépliantes
---- EDITION ORIGINALE ---- BEL EXEMPLAIRE ---- EX-LIBRIS Charles MONIER DE LA SIZERANNE ---- "In 1795 Hauy began teaching courses in physics and mineralogy at the Ecole des Mines and became a member of the new founded Institut National des Sciences et des Arts... After the death of Dolomieu, He became in 1802 professor of mineralogy at the Muséeum d'Histoire Naturelle where he enlarged the mineral collection. In 1809 he was also appointed to the newly created chair of mineralogy at the Sorbonne. In his stubborn opposition to the notions of indefinite compounds, mixed crystals, isomorphism, and polymorphism Hauy showed that, despite his mild and pliable character, he was adamant when his deepest convictions were at stake... After establishing the foundation of his crystal theory, Hauy applied it to mineralogical classification. Both Romé de L'Isle and Hauy held that the characteristic form of the constituent molecule of a compound is due to the forms, the definite proportions, and the definite arrangement of the constituent elementary particles. That is, before Proust they proposed a priori the chemical law of fixed proportions. For Hauy the mineral species was defined by a geometrical type and a chemical type ; the crystallographic molecule and the chemical molecule were identical. Molecules of different species, except those of the isometric or regular system, have different forms and different composition. These ideas enabled Hauy to unite in one species minerals hitherto considered different, such as beryl and emerald, and to divide groups that had been considered varieties of the same species, such as zeolites. Hauy's survey to the results of crystallography and chemical analysis in relation to the classification of mineral gave a detailed exposition of the successes and difficulties his method encountered. Chemical composition decided the four traditional classes in mineralogy and the orders and genera ; the form of the constituent molecule determined the species. Only with the formes limites were the physical properties and/or the chemical composition indispensable for definition of the species...". (DSB VI pp. 178/183)**2606/ARM2A
