[ROSNEL (Pierre de)]. Le Mercure indien, ou le trésor des In - Lot 154

[ROSNEL (Pierre de)]. Le Mercure indien, ou le trésor des Indes. Première [seconde-] Partie. A Paris, aux dépens de l'autheur, 1667-1668. Two volumes in an in-8 volume, [8] f., 64 p. ; [8] f., 136 p., [1] f., p.137-176, antique soft parchment, smooth spine, modern title in ink, renewed linings (lower guard missing, last 9 f. repaired, including qq. letters restored to corner of one page, soiling to title and qq. margins, foxing). Major work by Pierre de Rosnel, appointed Master Goldsmith in 1637, and jeweler to King Louis XIV. A goldsmith merchant in Paris at the Pont au Change and then rue Saint-Denis, he was elected garde de l'orfèvrerie (in 1662 and 1670) and grand garde (in 1671). The first part deals with gold, silver and quicksilver (i.e. mercury); the second with precious stones and pearls. Each title page features the copper-engraved arms of the dedicatee, Le Tellier. The end of the work, preceded by a special faux-title before page 137, concerns the estimation of precious and "less precious" stones, as well as pearls. The first title bears the date 1668, but its "achevé d'imprimer", in Paris by Robert Chevillion, is indeed from 1667, as is the title page of the second part.