Details
LEMERY, Nicolas (1645-1715). Cours de chymie contenant la maniere de faire les operations qui sont en usage dans la medecine, par une methode facile. Paris: for the author, 1675.
12o (147 x 81 mm). (Some dampstaining, a few small holes at inner margin on title-page.) 17th-century French mottled calf, spine gilt (head of spine chipped). Provenance: Bernard de Noblet, Chevalier, Comte de Chenelette and Lieutenant des Mareschaux de France (engraved armorial bookplate).
RARE FIRST EDITION OF LEMERY'S FAMOUS CHEMICAL TEXTBOOK. "Lemery's highly successful Cours de chymie, which served as the textbook to his popular courses on chemistry, brought French chemical teaching out of the quasi-mystical paracelsian tradition into the mainstream of Cartesian and atomistic natural philosophy" (Norman). It enjoyed unprecedented success and sold, as Fontenelle comments, like a work of romance or satire. Lemery's clear and entertaining presentation of chemistry in corpuscular-mechanist terms contributed to the works overwhelming popularity. It went through numerous editions, and was translated into all the major European languages. Partington III, pp. 28-41; Norman 1329.
12o (147 x 81 mm). (Some dampstaining, a few small holes at inner margin on title-page.) 17th-century French mottled calf, spine gilt (head of spine chipped). Provenance: Bernard de Noblet, Chevalier, Comte de Chenelette and Lieutenant des Mareschaux de France (engraved armorial bookplate).
RARE FIRST EDITION OF LEMERY'S FAMOUS CHEMICAL TEXTBOOK. "Lemery's highly successful Cours de chymie, which served as the textbook to his popular courses on chemistry, brought French chemical teaching out of the quasi-mystical paracelsian tradition into the mainstream of Cartesian and atomistic natural philosophy" (Norman). It enjoyed unprecedented success and sold, as Fontenelle comments, like a work of romance or satire. Lemery's clear and entertaining presentation of chemistry in corpuscular-mechanist terms contributed to the works overwhelming popularity. It went through numerous editions, and was translated into all the major European languages. Partington III, pp. 28-41; Norman 1329.