Essai d'une théorie sur la structure des crystaux, appliquée à plusieurs genres de substances crystallisées.

8vo: [8]-236 pp.; 8 pl. (some spotting).

Contemp. marbled calf, gilt orn. spine with 5 raised bands (tiny wormholes, def. at head and tail), marbled endpapers, red edges.

Very rare first edition by the French priest, mineralogist and "Father of Modern Crystallography" R.-J. Haüy (1743-1822). Illustrated with 8 fold. engr. pl. It was an accident that led Haüy to discover the new field in natural history. He examined a broken specimen and became intrigued by the perfectly smooth plane of the fracture. This inspired him to make further experiments in crystal cutting, breaking down crystals into the smallest pieces possible. He concluded that each type of a crystal has a fundamental primitive, nucleus or "integrant molecule" of a particular shape, that could not be broken down further without destroying both the physical and chemical nature of the crystal (Wikipedia).
Ref. BnF. - COPAC. - Poggendorff I:1038-39.
Prov. "G.M. Cambioso" (ms. ownership entry).