RASHLEIGH, Philip. 'Specimens of British Minerals, Selected ...

Hammer

£2,900

RASHLEIGH, Philip. 'Specimens of British Minerals, Selected from The Cabinet of......With General Descriptions of Each Article,' First edition, volume I (of II), later cloth backed card boards, ex libris label to pastedown, tape repair to the hinge of title page verso and introduction, tape to hinge of p.13 and p.25, p.54-55-56 uncut, p.49-50-51-52 uncut, thirty three plates as called for, pp.56, table titled Specific Gravities of Several Minerals to rear, sparse and slight incidences of spotting, a vg text block with fine aquatint plates illustrated by Henry Bone (1755-1834) of Truro, W. Bulmer & Co for G. Nicol, London, 1797. Philip Rashleigh (1729-1811) of Menabilly was a renowned collector of mineral specimens, particularly of tin, much of which is on display at the Royal Cornwall Museum with portions at the Natural History Museum. By 1794 he had acquired over 4,000 mineral specimens and started to look for "a good clever man to draw and colour some of my minerals,". He settled on the well known Cornish enamel painter, Henry Bone (1755-1834) whose paintings were used to produce the plates for this scarce, early illustrated work on mineralogy. A very good copy of the first volume.