[ dezalier d'argenville (Antoine-Joseph) ] Natural History clarifies in two of its main parts, Lithology and Conchyliology, one of which deals with stones and the other with shells, a work in which we find a New Method & a critical notice of the main Authors who wrote on these matters. Paris: de Bure l'aîné, 1742. - In-4, speckled calf, spine ribbed and grotesquely decorated, red edges (contemporary binding, spine redone later). First edition of the first natural history book by Dézallier d'Argenville, published anonymously. The author first deals with Lithology, i.e. the study of stones, from the most common stone to the most precious stone, a subject that was very little studied at the time. In a second, more extensive part, he offers a general treatise on shells from sea, river and land, with a proposal for classification, in the manner of botanists. The edition is illustrated with 33 copper-engraved plates, one of which has a frontispiece engraved by Chedel after Boucher, 4 for the first part and 28 for the second, offering 13 reproductions of stones and several hundred perfectly represented shells. Modest copy. Edges of the dishes rubbed with lack, traces of wetness on the dishes, back redone afterwards headdress damaged, guards renewed. Galleries of verses all along the work, reaching neither the text nor the engravings. Freckles, stains and some rare traces of wetness. Leaves Hh1 and Hh3 are unbound.