FABBRONI, Giovanni Valentino Mattia.

In Firenze [Florence]: Per Gaetano Cambiagi…1790

8vo, pp. xxv, 358, (1) errata, 10 hand-coloured folding engraved plates, 1 folding hand-coloured engraved map, 1 folding letterpress table. Contemporary cat’s paw sheep, flat spine ruled in gilt, black morocco label. Slight browning in gathering o, but a lovely, fresh copy. Contemporary presentation inscription on front endpaper by the recipient, Bottus (?), from Alexandro Pontenani, probably Alessandro Pontenani, minister of finance to the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo.

FIRST EDITION. “Very scarce. The work is a compendium of information concerning coal, including chemical and mineralogical details. The analyses of Italian coals, by distillation, were by the author. Contains a bibliography of various works on coal, ‘Biblioteca antracologica’, on pages 347–358” (Schuh). As well as a detailed account of the mining of coal, the difficulties of mining it, the geology of the coal seams, the thickness of the seams, etc., this is also an important treatise on the economic value of coal to the region of Tuscany. The plates, which are beautifully hand-coloured in this copy, show geological formations, mines and equipment. Plate 9 shows the Boulton & Watt steam engine. Schuh, Mineralogy & crystallography, 1587. Cole 424. Hoover catalogue 290. Kress (Italian) 592. This was the only edition.

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