Paul Maria Partsch, 1851

PARTSCH, Paul Maria (1791-1856). Katalog der bibliothek des K.K. Hof-mineralien-cabinetes in Wien. Vienna: K.K. Hof-und staatsdruckerei, 1851.

Rare first edition of the first printed catalogue of the fine library of the Imperial Hapsburg collections in Vienna of minerals, meteorites and fossils. It contains 2869 entries on geology, mining, minerals, and precious stones, of which some 400 concern paleontology, 30 relating to meteorites and about 600 to topography and travel.

Partsch, an Austrian mineralogist, ‘ became a man of independent means in 1824, which allowed him to devote his time to his own amusements. He made many independent geological excursions, and he was in 1835 appointed custodian of the fossil collections of the K.K. Hof-Mineralien Cabinets in Vienna. Partsch was a founding member of the Austrian Academy of Science. He helped finance the publication of many mineralogical works’ (Schuh). The great mineral, fossil, and meteorite collections are on display, many in their original cabinets, with panoramic murals of geological formations and mines, and astonishing caryatids by Rudolf Weyr, in the K.K. Naturhistorischen Hofmuseum in Vienna opposite the Kunsthistorisches Museum.

Quarto (263 x 195mm). Contemporary marbled paper boards, spine label gilt, gilt monogram of the Royal Mining School of Hanover on spine (joints and extremities somewhat rubbed). Provenance: Königliche Bergwerks-Bibliothek, Hanover (ink stamps) – a few pencil inscriptions on title.