MURR Christoph Gottlieb von Bibliotheque glyptographique.

First edition of this small work devoted to the study of ancient engraved stones.

Christoph Gottlieb von Murr (1733-1811) was a German scholar and polymath of the Enlightenment. He was a member of the academies of Berlin, Göttingen, and Munich, and a correspondent of the Institut de France. He was one of the most versatile and important scholars of 18th-century Nuremberg. His writings include 82 works, including five in French, on history, antiquity, law and political science, ethnology, linguistics, Oriental studies, art, literature, and music. He was editor-in-chief of the Journal zur Kunstgeschichte und zur allgemeinen Literatur, Nuremberg 1775-89.

The auction catalog of his library, dating from 1811, included 5,835 items and contains a biography in Latin written by Joh. Ferd. Roth.

This interesting collection is the result of Murr’s extensive research. In it, he provides an exhaustive list of works, engravers, and pieces related to glyptography.  However, Murr does not content himself with an impersonal enumeration, but comments on certain works and condemns them. This is particularly the case with Anton Friedrich Büsching’s Geschichte und Grundsätze der Steinschneidekunst, which he describes as a “very mediocre work” (p. 30).

Uniformly yellowed, head-piecce worn, joints split, spine rubbed.