First Edition, Second Issue
Micrographia. Or Some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies Made by Magnifying Glasses. With Observations and Inquiries thereupon.
London: Printed for John Martyn, 1667.
Full Description:
HOOKE, Robert. Micrographia. Or Some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies Made by Magnifying Glasses. With Observations and Inquiries thereupon. London: [Printed for John Martyn, Printer to the Royal Society, 1667].
First Edition, second issue. The first edition sheets reissued with a new title and its conjugate containing the Royal Society’s order for the book to be printed. Except for plate V, which was re-engraved in reverse, the same plates were used as in the first issue. Folio (11 1/4 x 7 1/2 inches; 285 x 190 mm). [36], 246, [10] pp. Thirty-eight numbered engraved plates, most of which are folding.
Full contemporary calf, rebacked to style. Boards ruled in blind. Red morocco spine label, lettered in gilt. Top edge dyed brown, others speckled red and blue. Plate number 35 has a closed tear, which is professionally repaired, just barely touching engraving. A few of the engravings trimmed close as usual, occasionally touching image. Previous owner's small ink signature on title-page. Overall a very good copy of this wonderful book with plates and text very clean.
“The most influential work in the history of microscopy, containing the discoveries made with Hooke’s newly perfected compound microscope. 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 rivalling that of Galileo’s Sidereus nuncius... Hooke began his observations with studies on non-living materials, such as woven cloth and frozen urine crystals, then proceeded to investigations of plant and animal life. He published the first studies of insect anatomy, giving a lucid account of the compound eye of the fly, and illustrating the microscopic details of such structures as apian wings, flies’ legs and feet, and the sting of the bee. 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 Library).
Provenance: This copy was collected by Samuel and Cecile Barchas, who did not include it in the gift of their history of science collection to Stanford University because by then they had acquired a first-edition copy of the first issue. From Sam and Cecile, this “duplicate” passed down in the Barchas family from who it was presently acquired.
Keynes 7. Wing H2621A. Dibner 187, Garrison and Morton 262, Grolier/Horblit 50, Norman Library 1092, Printing and the Mind of Man 147 (all describing the first edition, first issue).
HBS 68744.
$55,000.
Price: $55,000.00
Item #68744