Wittenberg, Matthaeus Henckel, 1675. Small 4to (19.5 x 15.8 cm). Title page, [18] pp. No wrappers, as issued.

A rarely seen and little-known thesis on flying dragons and various other curiosities of nature (as indicated in the Latin title), written by the German polymath Georg Kaspar Kirchmayer (1635-1700). His writings range thematically from classical literature and philology to physics and mining and metallurgy, and further to the animal world, botany, mythology, history, law, folklore, and theology. Between 1661 and 1699 he wrote over 600 papers on behalf of the university, containing valuable information on the history of the Wittenberg Academy. In the field of public teaching, Georg Kaspar Kirchmayer naturally saw himself as bound to his actual area of vocation: the elucidation of classical authors (see Wikipedia, German edition). This is, probably, his only herpetological work. Binding loose, fold in last leaf, otherwise a very good, unmarked, and wide-margined copy. Poggendorff, p. 1261 (not this work). Neither in Cat. BM(NH) nor in any other major bibliography.