Details
SCHEELE, CARL WILHELM. Chemische Abhandlung von der Luft und dem Feuer. Nebst einem Vorbericht von Torbern Bergman. Uppsala and Leipzig: Verlegt von Magn. Swederus, zu finden bey S. L. Crusius. 8vo, 169 x 104 mm. (6 7/8 x 4 in.), contemporary half speckled calf, spine in six compartments each with a gilt fleuron, red morocco lettering-piece in the second, edges sprinkled blue and red, green ribbon marker, folding cloth chemise and morocco-backed slipcase, lacking first leaf blank, the two-leaf Foreword (imposed and printed as K4-5), misbound in its original position (after K3).
FIRST EDITION, engraved title vignette of chemical apparatus, single folding engraved plate with 5 figures at end, woodcut head- and tail-piece ornaments. Dibner Heralds of Science 41; Grolier/Horblit 92; Norman 1905.
A FINE COPY OF THIS FUNDAMENTAL WORK OF CHEMISTRY. Priestley's announcement in 1774 of the discovery of oxygen as a gas necessary for combustion only preceded Scheele's because of a two-year delay in publication of the latter's work, largely due to Torbern Bergman's tardy delivery of the preface. In fact, "it is known from Scheele's laboratory notes that the discovery was made at least two years before Priestley's...Until then no chemist who had produced or released [oxygen] had been aware that it was a completely new gas or had been fully familiar with its properties..." (DSB). "On air and fire also contains an account of Scheele's experiments with hydrogen sulfide gas, which he was the first to describe correctly and the first to synthesize. Scheele made numerous other important contributions to chemistry, including the discoveries of chlorine, manganese and a number of acids. He also noted the action of light on chloride of silver and the insolubility of blackened silver chloride in ammonia--discoveries that would later prove significant for photography" (Norman).
Provenance: Graf R. von Veltheim, inkstamp on verso of title -- Robert Honeyman IV, bookplate (sale, Sotheby's London, Part VII, 19-20 May 1981, lot 2775).
FIRST EDITION, engraved title vignette of chemical apparatus, single folding engraved plate with 5 figures at end, woodcut head- and tail-piece ornaments. Dibner Heralds of Science 41; Grolier/Horblit 92; Norman 1905.
A FINE COPY OF THIS FUNDAMENTAL WORK OF CHEMISTRY. Priestley's announcement in 1774 of the discovery of oxygen as a gas necessary for combustion only preceded Scheele's because of a two-year delay in publication of the latter's work, largely due to Torbern Bergman's tardy delivery of the preface. In fact, "it is known from Scheele's laboratory notes that the discovery was made at least two years before Priestley's...Until then no chemist who had produced or released [oxygen] had been aware that it was a completely new gas or had been fully familiar with its properties..." (DSB). "On air and fire also contains an account of Scheele's experiments with hydrogen sulfide gas, which he was the first to describe correctly and the first to synthesize. Scheele made numerous other important contributions to chemistry, including the discoveries of chlorine, manganese and a number of acids. He also noted the action of light on chloride of silver and the insolubility of blackened silver chloride in ammonia--discoveries that would later prove significant for photography" (Norman).
Provenance: Graf R. von Veltheim, inkstamp on verso of title -- Robert Honeyman IV, bookplate (sale, Sotheby's London, Part VII, 19-20 May 1981, lot 2775).