Danielis Georgi Morhofi Polyhistor, in Tres Tomos – Daniel Georg Morhof

Danielis Georgi Morhofi Polyhistor, in Tres Tomos. By Daniel Georg Morhof. Lubeck: Petri Buckmanni, 1708.

Full Title: Dan. Georgi Morhofi Polyhistoris Continuatio, Continens Quatuor Posteriores Tom Liter Libros, a Viro in Acad. Lipsiensi Erudito revisos arque auctos, nec non Tomum Philosophicum & Practicum, Opus Perfectimum a JOHANNE MOLLERO, Scholae Flemsburg, Rectore. – Accurate revisum, emendatum, suppletum passim atque auctuni in Paragraphos distinctum, Librorum Historico-Criticis, ut & Praefatione, Tom. II arqi III praefixa, illustratum. – Accedant Indices Neccessarii.

In Latin language. Printed for Lubeck: Petri Buckmanni, 1708. Early edition. Size 8 ¼ x 7 x 2 ½ in. Full contemporary vellum a bit soiled but quite sound. Scattered foxing and browning, but generally quite clean internally. Volumes 2 and 3 (bound in one book) of a three volume set.

Morhof attempted to classify and describe the world’s philosophy in three volumes and assembled in one place the ideal scholar’s library of the late 17th century. A foundational work in both enlightenment studies and the history of ideas. This volume looks at foreign languages, literary criticism, and philosophy. A large part is devoted to “Physicus”, which looks at a “still Medieval” view of the physical world of objects, straying into such subjects as “DE QUALITATIBUS OCCULTIS,” a look at the primary elements “Earth, Air, Fire, and Water,” spontaneous generation, and a section on medicine.