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PROPERTY FROM A MASSACHUSETTS COLLECTOR
HOOKE, Robert (1635-1703). Micrographia: or some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses. London: John Martyn and James Allestry for the Royal Society, 1665.
Details
HOOKE, Robert (1635-1703). Micrographia: or some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses. London: John Martyn and James Allestry for the Royal Society, 1665.
2° (295 x 196 mm). Title-page printed in red and black with engraved arms of the Royal Society. 38 engraved plates, by and after the author and possibly also Christopher Wren (29 folding), woodcut head-pieces and five-line initials (numeral on plate 21 and a printed line on plate 13 just shaved, pl. 33 with tear crossing image, pl. 34 with marginal tear with old reinforcement on verso, several other small tears along folds, pl. 35 with repaired tear crossing image). (Worming in lower margin of first 16 leaves.) Contemporary blind-ruled mottled calf (rebacked, peeled). Provenance: CHARLES CORNWALLIS, 1ST MARQUESS CORNWALLIS (1738-1805), British army officer and colonial administrator (note of acquisition at his sale at Brome Hall, 23 July 1811 by); William Kirby (1759-1850), English entomologist, and an original member of the Linnaean Society (signature on flyleaf).
"THE MOST INFLUENTIAL WORK IN THE HISTORY OF MICROSCOPY, CONTAINING THE DISCOVERIES MADE WITH HOOKE'S NEWLY PERFECTED COMPOUND MICROSCOPE" (Norman)
CORNWALLIS' AND WILLIAM KIRBY"S COPY OF THE FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE OF HOOKE'S MOST CELEBRATED WORK, with the title printed in red and black and dated 1665. "Micrographia was not only the first book devoted entirely to microscopical observations, but also the first to pair its descriptions with profuse and detailed illustrations, and this graphic portrayal of a hitherto unseen world had an impact rivaling that of Galilieo's Sidereus nuncius... his famous and dramatic portraits of the flea and louse, a frightening eighteen inches long, are hardly less startling today than they must have been to Hooke's contemporaries" (Norman).
The 28-page preface gives a description of the newly-perfected compound microscope, and "contains many reflections on human faculties and the importance of scientific discoveries in general" (Keynes). Although the main emphasis is on plants and insects, the written "Observations" that follow range from "The Point of a Needle" and "Edge of a Razor" (nos. 1-2) to "The Fixt Stars" and "The Moon" (nos. 59-60), and include almost everything except a unifying theory. Newton read the book diligently in his mid-twenties; his notes on it survive at Cambridge, and there is no doubt that Hooke's examination of the phenomena of colors in thin, transparent films led him directly to the experiments which became the foundation for Book Two of the Opticks. In his last observation, Hooke conjectured that the moon might have a gravitating principle like the earth's; his book also marks the first scientific use of the word "cell". Although Keynes states that the plates are "mostly folding", many of the folds are only short flaps, and the number of folding plates varies from copy to copy, depending on the whim of the binder; in this copy some plates have been trimmed across the platemark, but without loss to the images. As in the copy described by Horblit Science, plates 2 and 13 are titled in manuscript ("Schem. 2" and "Schem. 13"), and plate XVI is bound after XXI.
A copy with very distinguished provenance, coming from the library of Charles Cornwallis, and later William Kirby, considered to be the founder of entomology. Dibner Heralds of Science 187; ESTC s.v.; Garrison-Morton 262; Heirs of Hippocrates 599; Horblit Science 50; Keynes Dr. Robert Hooke 6; Norman 1092; PMM 147. A SUPERB ASSOCIATION COPY.
2° (295 x 196 mm). Title-page printed in red and black with engraved arms of the Royal Society. 38 engraved plates, by and after the author and possibly also Christopher Wren (29 folding), woodcut head-pieces and five-line initials (numeral on plate 21 and a printed line on plate 13 just shaved, pl. 33 with tear crossing image, pl. 34 with marginal tear with old reinforcement on verso, several other small tears along folds, pl. 35 with repaired tear crossing image). (Worming in lower margin of first 16 leaves.) Contemporary blind-ruled mottled calf (rebacked, peeled). Provenance: CHARLES CORNWALLIS, 1ST MARQUESS CORNWALLIS (1738-1805), British army officer and colonial administrator (note of acquisition at his sale at Brome Hall, 23 July 1811 by); William Kirby (1759-1850), English entomologist, and an original member of the Linnaean Society (signature on flyleaf).
"THE MOST INFLUENTIAL WORK IN THE HISTORY OF MICROSCOPY, CONTAINING THE DISCOVERIES MADE WITH HOOKE'S NEWLY PERFECTED COMPOUND MICROSCOPE" (Norman)
CORNWALLIS' AND WILLIAM KIRBY"S COPY OF THE FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE OF HOOKE'S MOST CELEBRATED WORK, with the title printed in red and black and dated 1665. "Micrographia was not only the first book devoted entirely to microscopical observations, but also the first to pair its descriptions with profuse and detailed illustrations, and this graphic portrayal of a hitherto unseen world had an impact rivaling that of Galilieo's Sidereus nuncius... his famous and dramatic portraits of the flea and louse, a frightening eighteen inches long, are hardly less startling today than they must have been to Hooke's contemporaries" (Norman).
The 28-page preface gives a description of the newly-perfected compound microscope, and "contains many reflections on human faculties and the importance of scientific discoveries in general" (Keynes). Although the main emphasis is on plants and insects, the written "Observations" that follow range from "The Point of a Needle" and "Edge of a Razor" (nos. 1-2) to "The Fixt Stars" and "The Moon" (nos. 59-60), and include almost everything except a unifying theory. Newton read the book diligently in his mid-twenties; his notes on it survive at Cambridge, and there is no doubt that Hooke's examination of the phenomena of colors in thin, transparent films led him directly to the experiments which became the foundation for Book Two of the Opticks. In his last observation, Hooke conjectured that the moon might have a gravitating principle like the earth's; his book also marks the first scientific use of the word "cell". Although Keynes states that the plates are "mostly folding", many of the folds are only short flaps, and the number of folding plates varies from copy to copy, depending on the whim of the binder; in this copy some plates have been trimmed across the platemark, but without loss to the images. As in the copy described by Horblit Science, plates 2 and 13 are titled in manuscript ("Schem. 2" and "Schem. 13"), and plate XVI is bound after XXI.
A copy with very distinguished provenance, coming from the library of Charles Cornwallis, and later William Kirby, considered to be the founder of entomology. Dibner Heralds of Science 187; ESTC s.v.; Garrison-Morton 262; Heirs of Hippocrates 599; Horblit Science 50; Keynes Dr. Robert Hooke 6; Norman 1092; PMM 147. A SUPERB ASSOCIATION COPY.