Mundus Subterraneus

December 22, 2012 5:30 PM

In The Public Domain Review, John Glassie reviews one of Athanasius Kircher's greatest works, Mundus Subterraneus (Underground World), …intended to lay out before the eyes of the curious reader all that is rare, exotic, and portentous contained in the fecund womb of Nature.
posted by ob1quixote (4 comments total)

What a cool website — it's going in my "visit regularly" list. Thanks, ob1.
posted by benito.strauss at 5:38 PM on December 22, 2012

And the spirited, bumbling polymath-dreamer of Jules Verne’s A Journey to the Center of the Earth, who leads a subterranean descent through an old volcanic crater, certainly seems to be based on Kircher himself.

Awesome find.
posted by Mezentian at 5:39 PM on December 22, 2012

Thanks for this - I'm with Benito on this one. Fantastic resource.
posted by misterbee at 7:36 PM on December 22, 2012

Ha, John Glassie. We were in the same class for four years of high school. He was quarterback on the football team. Never thought he'd go from quarterback to professional writer!
posted by brianstorms at 11:34 PM on December 22, 2012