BATTARRA, GIOVANNI ANTONIO. FUNGORUM AGRI ARIMINENSIS HISTORIA.. Faenza: Typis Ballantiantis, 1755
4to. 1st edition. Contemporary Italian vellum over boards. 19th century bookplate of the Baron de Warenghien on front paste-down.Collation: vii, 80 p. + 40 copper engraved plates. The text and plates in very good condition. All edges with speckled red inking.
This first edition offers notes on published and unpublished mycological literature along with the author’s views on the theory of spontaneous generation from putrefaction or from the “decayed nutritive juice.” The latter would provide reproduction “by seed.” There are notes of practical interest, such as on how to distinguish poisonous mushrooms… and their therapeutic qualities. The work concludes with descriptions of around 300 kinds of mushrooms, divided into eight classes. The classification criteria is given by the external form, judged by Battarra to be a more certain and practical method of classification, than that used by Gleditsch in his Methodus fungorum of 1753. (notes from translation of Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani VII p. 236) (Nissen BBI 95; Pritzel 490)
$US6000
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