BORCH (Michel Jean de). Lythologie sicilienne, ou connaissance de la nature des pierres de la Sicile, suivie d'un discours sur la Calcara de Palerme. Rome, Benoît Francesi, 1778. In-4, marbled calf, spine decorated, red edges (period binding). Very rare first edition of this treatise on the rocks and minerals of Sicily. Luxuriously printed in Rome, the work is adorned with a title vignette and large etched headbands, tailpieces and lettering. It is dedicated to Pope Pius VI. "Very scarce. Early treatise on the rocks of Sicily that is a continuation of the author's Lithographie sicilienne (1778) and covering the same mineralogical subject. However, rather than being a catalogue of specimens, Borch gives information on the deposits and quantities produced where the material occur", writes Schuh. There is apparently an Italian and a German translation of this book, but they are so rare that the bibliographer has not been able to consult a single copy. According to Sinkankas, "notable portions being descriptions of chalcedonic varieties of quartz, pp. 51-131, in which are treated jaspers (111 varieties), agates (121 varieties) and quartz crystals. There are also numerous kinds of marbles, pp. 136-161, listing 89 specimens, alabasters, stalactites, stalagmites, lumachelle marble, serpentine, etc." Born in Poland into a family of Livonian origin, Count de Borch (1753-1810) received a French education and in 1777 undertook a trip to Sicily and Malta, of which he wrote a report in 1782. He published three works in French on Sicilian mineralogy: a catalogue of Sicilian lithography in 1777 and two treatises, Lithologie sicilienne in 1778 and Minéralogie sicilienne docimastique et métallurgique in 1780, as well as Lettres sur les truffes du Piémont in the same year, and a tragedy, Victor Amédée, in 1789. A very fine copy in a remarkable state of freshness. Poggendorff, I, 237 - Sinkankas, n°785 - Schuh, n°712.