2 volumes in 1. [30], 346, [6];[12], 487, [9] pp. With 12 copper-engraved plates, 7 of them folding; 6 folding copper-engraved maps; 61 copper-engaved maps and illustrations in the text (some full page); 2 copper-engraved pictorial title-pages; 2 portraits including the frontispiece in Vol. I; small inserted woodcut and small inserted copper-engraving in Vol. II; 3 volvelles inserted intact in Vol. I; numerous woodcuts in the text. (folio) 15¼x9, later vellum, recased with later endpapers. First Edition.

First edition of the first scientific attempt to explain the mysteries lying beneath the surface of the earth, from the fiery volcanos to the burrowing insects. Among the finely engraved plates and maps are stunning depictions of the netherworld, maps of the various continents, illustrations of mining, volcanoes, and the first engraving of Atlantis. Three of the woodcut illustrations, at pp. 132, 154 and 156 in Vol. I, are intended to have rotating volvelles, and these volvelles are inserted intact and unassembled at their respective pages.