BOYLE, Robert. Experiments, Notes, &c. about the Mechanical Origine or Production of divers particular Qualities, London: by E. Flesher for R. Davis, 1675, 8°, FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE (lacking three blanks, library perforation on title and one sectional title, stamp on verso of title, outer margin of title with adhesive tape repair on verso, upper margin browned and frayed, accession stamp at foot of *1 ["Directions for the Book-binder"], the same leaf torn at upper right hand corner, A8 and B1r of introductory section badly-soiled, 2 leaves of part 3 ["Odours"] slightly torn at inner margin, A3 of part 4 ["Doctrine of Qualities"] with hole at lower margin, occasional old repairs, some dampstains at margins), library buckram. [Fulton 123: "rare and often imperfect"; Norman 303: second issue, lacking *1; Wheeler Gift 178; Wing B3976] Provenance: Josiah Messor 1771 (ownership inscription on title with [?] his occasional marginal notes); JCL

Details

BOYLE, Robert. Experiments, Notes, &c. about the Mechanical Origine or Production of divers particular Qualities, London: by E. Flesher for R. Davis, 1675, 8°, FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE (lacking three blanks, library perforation on title and one sectional title, stamp on verso of title, outer margin of title with adhesive tape repair on verso, upper margin browned and frayed, accession stamp at foot of *1 ["Directions for the Book-binder"], the same leaf torn at upper right hand corner, A8 and B1r of introductory section badly-soiled, 2 leaves of part 3 ["Odours"] slightly torn at inner margin, A3 of part 4 ["Doctrine of Qualities"] with hole at lower margin, occasional old repairs, some dampstains at margins), library buckram. [Fulton 123: "rare and often imperfect"; Norman 303: second issue, lacking *1; Wheeler Gift 178; Wing B3976] Provenance: Josiah Messor 1771 (ownership inscription on title with [?] his occasional marginal notes); JCL

Lot Essay

A collection of eleven tracts, each with its own title, of which those on magnestism and electricity, form major contributions to physical science. Although the noun, "electricity" had been used sporadically in England before 1675, it was, says Fulton, "Boyle who brought the term into common usage, and his tract is the first work on electricity in the English language." The tracts on taste and smell are also the first monographs in physiological literature to be devoted to these senses.

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