De rerum fossilium figuris

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Author Gessner, Conrad
Full title De rerum fossilium, lapidum et gemmarum maxime, figuris et similitudinibus liber: non solum medicis, sed omnibus rerum naturae ac philologiae studiosis, utilis et iucundus futurus
Year 1565
Place Zurich
Publisher/Printer Geßner, Jakob
Era 16th century
Form/Genre Historia, Encyclopedic work
Discipline/Content Meteorology/Earth sciences, Medicine
Digital copies
Original De rerum fossilium figuris (e-rara.ch)
Digital sourcebook 608633
Description This Book about Shapes and Similarities of Things Dug from the Earth, Especially Stones and Gems is among the last works which Gessner was able to finish. It was published the very year of his death.

The mineralogical treatise itself is preceded by a letter of dedication to a certain Andreas Schadcovius, who works as a notary at the saltworks of Kraków. After that, an informative preface to the reader explains the work's structure, thanks the author's friend Johannes Kentmann for having provided him with a number of specimens, explains that the writing of the book was a kind of recreation during the more exhausting work at Gessner's Historia stirpium (which remained unfinished and in manuscript at his death), and promises a second, corrected and augmented, edition if the first one should meet with interest. Finally – and most interestingly – Gesner describes the difficulties encountered by him when he tried to depict the various stones.

The body text is divided into 15 long chapters uniting stones on the basis of their appearance, nature (ch. 2, for example, enumerates stones "which have something in common with the stars, the sun, the moon or the elements") or even names (an example of the combination of natural history and philology that is typical for Gessner). Ancient and modern authorities are cited in great numbers. The stones are often identified with their vernacular names in addition to their Latin ones. As announced in the preface, the text is illustrated with a considerable number of woodcuts.

Simultaneously to its separate publication, De rerum fossilium figuris was included as a fitting conclusion into one of Conrad Gessner's major editorial enterprises, namely the De omni rerum fossilium genere, gemmis, lapidibus, metallis et huiusmodi, libri aliquot, a collection of eight geological and mineralogical writings by various authors comprising over 1000 pages.


Cited in
How to cite this entry Gessner, Conrad: De rerum fossilium figuris, in: Noscemus Wiki, URL: http://wiki.uibk.ac.at/noscemus/De_rerum_fossilium_figuris (last revision: 08.10.2021).
Internal notes
Internal notes Possible subject for talk "The taste of stone. Techniques of description in Conrad Gessner's De rerum fossilium figuris".

Summary: Difficulty of description in early modern science in general. Rarely discussed by naturalists themselves. Ignored in modern research (exception: Ogilvie). Mineralogy esp. difficult: Minerals cannot be depicted. Example of G.: Starts with problems of depiction (preface). Multifaceted techniques of description: Telling names (cf. DB's talk), multilingualism (Greek, German), metaphors, comparison (fol. 120r) very broad range of characteristics (from fissability to uses), description by all senses (e.g. taste, fol. 27r; smell, fol. 93r). Conclusion: holistic approach to natural world.

Of interest to DB, MK
Transkribus text available Yes
Written by MK