NIEREMBERG, Juan Eusebio. Curiosa y Oculta Filosofia. Primera, y segunda parte de las maravillas de la naturaleza, examinadas en varias questiones naturales. Madrid, Imprenta Real, 1643

8vo, mm. 210x150; Contemporary limp vellum binding, title written on the spine; pp. 24 nn., incl. Titlepage and Table of the subjects, 438; text on two columns. Slight signs of wear and yellowing, unsophisticated copy.

Rare third edition, in part original. This unique work of the encyclopaedic Spanish Jesuit is an extraordinary compendium of Natural History, of which are explained the wonderful aspects. Divided into two parts, Curious and Occult, deals with botany, mineralogy, meteorology, physics, medicine and chemistry. There are discussed the views of the greatest authors of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, as Cardano, Della Porta, Mattioli, Scaliger, and others. Many pages are devoted to the earth's magnetic field, the magnet, and the magnetic attraction phenomena in general, the compass. Caillet: “traitant des merveilles de l'imagination, de l'âme des monstres, de la realité des monstres fabuleux, de la pierre philosophale, de la nouvelle philosophie, de la substance du ciel, de la vie des étoiles, de la nature des comètes, de la sympathie et antipathie de la nature, du nouveau mystère de la pierre aimantée.” This work influenced the subsequent researchs of Kircher. Caillet, n. 8004; Palau, 190667; Sommervogel, V, 1730, n. 8. The Lot is offered with a valid export licence.