FRANKLIN, Benjamin. Expériences et Observations sur l'Electricité, Paris: Durand, 1752, 16°, FIRST FRENCH EDITION, one folding engraved plate (outer corner of plate dampstained), contemporary calf gilt (head of spine chipped, front joints split but cords holding). [Sotheran 1404: "The history of electricity prefixed to this edition has not been published in any other form"; Waller 11339]

Details

FRANKLIN, Benjamin. Expériences et Observations sur l'Electricité, Paris: Durand, 1752, 16°, FIRST FRENCH EDITION, one folding engraved plate (outer corner of plate dampstained), contemporary calf gilt (head of spine chipped, front joints split but cords holding). [Sotheran 1404: "The history of electricity prefixed to this edition has not been published in any other form"; Waller 11339]

Provenance

HARRISON D. HORBLIT, bookplate.

Lot Essay

Horblitt considers Experiments and Observations an "important work in electricity, proving that lightning is electrical and deducing the positive and negative nature of an electrical charge". PMM describes this work as "the most important scientific book of eighteenth-century America. By 1769 five editions had appeared."

More from Printed Books

View All