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Lot 1014
KIRCHER, ATHANASIUS. 1602-1680. Romani Collegii Societatus Jesu Musaeum Celeberrimum. Amsterdam: Janssonius van Waesberge, 1678.
25 October 2022, 14:00 EDT
New YorkUS$5,000 - US$7,000
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KIRCHER, ATHANASIUS. 1602-1680.
Romani Collegii Societatus Jesu Musaeum Celeberrimum. Amsterdam: Janssonius van Waesberge, 1678.
Folio (375 x 260 mm). Engraved additional title, engraved portrait of Kircher, 17 engraved plates (9 folding), 4 engravings and numerous woodcuts to text, initials, tailpieces. Later half vellum and boards.
FIRST EDITION of the first catalogue of the Museo Kircheriano at the Roman College, a detailed inventory of Kircher's cabinet of curiosities of Chinese and Egyptian antiquities, scientific instruments, optical devices and ancient musical instruments. Kircher "was in an excellent situation, at the hub of the Jesuit order, to gather relics, specimens, manuscripts, and any other oddities or rarities his fellow Jesuits brought back to Rome from all parts of the world ... In 1678, the Museo Kircheriano was at its peak, with a new exhibit hall and a printed catalogue" (Merrill, p xxvii). A second catalogue was published in 1709 followed by a long period of decline in the maintenance of the collection. Much of Kircher's collection was eventually incorporated into the Museo Nazionale. Caillet 5784.
Folio (375 x 260 mm). Engraved additional title, engraved portrait of Kircher, 17 engraved plates (9 folding), 4 engravings and numerous woodcuts to text, initials, tailpieces. Later half vellum and boards.
FIRST EDITION of the first catalogue of the Museo Kircheriano at the Roman College, a detailed inventory of Kircher's cabinet of curiosities of Chinese and Egyptian antiquities, scientific instruments, optical devices and ancient musical instruments. Kircher "was in an excellent situation, at the hub of the Jesuit order, to gather relics, specimens, manuscripts, and any other oddities or rarities his fellow Jesuits brought back to Rome from all parts of the world ... In 1678, the Museo Kircheriano was at its peak, with a new exhibit hall and a printed catalogue" (Merrill, p xxvii). A second catalogue was published in 1709 followed by a long period of decline in the maintenance of the collection. Much of Kircher's collection was eventually incorporated into the Museo Nazionale. Caillet 5784.

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