Beschreibung:

Nicols (Thomas) A Lapidary: Or, The History of Precious Stones: With cautions for the undeceiving of all those that deal with Pretious Stones, Cambridge: Thomas Buck, printer to the Universitie, 1652, small 8vo, contemporary gilt tooled decorative vellum, aeg, first edition with "Printer to the Universitie" in imprint, including initial blank and folding table, woodcut initials and head-pieces, contemporary ink shelf marks to head of pastedown [Wing N1145] Provenance: Ombersley Court, Worcestershire Footnote: The first book written in English on gemstones. Nicols begins with a general study of precious stones, discussing their origin, history, physical properties, methods of polishing, types of settings, real and imitation stones, and supernatural properties. He then devotes one chapter to each of more than 60 individual gems.