John Auldjo lived in Naples at a sensitive period concerning volcanic eruptions. Indeed, the Mount Vesuvius experienced no less than 5 eruptions between 1820 and 1840. He personnally witnessed the effusive eruption of 1831 and went to scale it. The result is a new written work filled with handmade lithographs.
Mundus Subterraneus, Athanasius Kircher
Athanasius Kircher was a 17th century jesuit scholar. Polymath and extremely prolific he published 39 major and highly influential works. After an excursion in the Vesuvius, Athenesius Kircher wrote the first published treatise on geology: Mundus subterraneus.