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276

"Essays on the Microscope" by George Adams, 1787 (!)

Currency:EUR Category:Everything Else / Other Start Price:NA Estimated At:3,000.00 - 5,000.00 EUR
Essays on the Microscope by George Adams, 1787 (!)
"Essays on the Microscope" by George Adams, 1787 (!) 1. Ausgabe des berühmten Standardwerks von Mikroskop-Pionier George Adams, London, mit komplettem Original-Kupferstichband "Microscopes". 1) Text-Band: 724 Seiten, späterer Einband, letzte Seite restauriert, Innentitel mit Ausriß oben. Mit Frontispiz ("To The King - Sir, ..."), aber ohne allegorische zweite Titelseite. - Und: 2) Kompletter Band mit 32 großformatigen Kupfertafeln (40 x 28 cm) zu allen Bereichen des Mikroskops und der Mikroskopie-Objekte. Mit Titel-Goldprägung. Teilweise leichte Stockflecken. - Außerordentlich frühes, kunstvolles Werk des berühmten englischen Mikroskopherstellers. "Essays on the Microscope Containing a Practical Description of the Most Improved Microscopes" by George Adams, London 1787. Includes oblong folio plate volume & instrument catalog. At auction is a rare first edition copy of perhaps the best known and most widely respected work on microscopy. In 1787 George Adams, Jr., Mathematical Instrument Maker to the Crown, wrote a book on microscopy and optics; published with it was a spectacular oblong folio volume of mezzotint illustrations. Both are at auction here. This is unusual, the few plate volumes remained were often disbound for the beauty of engravings. In countless books on microscopy and in auction catalogs of the rarest of instruments, the images one sees reproduced are almost invariably from this George Adams volume. The text volume also concludes with a catalog of Adam's instruments. About the author: Georg Adams, Jr. (1750-1795) was the son of one of the most famous English microscope makers of the mid-eighteenth century; he became, in his own right, just as famous and well-regarded as his fat-her. Adams the Younger, as he came to be known, followed in his father's footsteps in the instrument-making. Just some of those microscopes illustrated and discussed include: Jones's Improved Compound Microscope and Apparatus. - Jones's Most Improved Compound Microscope and Apparatus. - Culpeper's Microscope and Apparatus. - Solar Opake Microscope. - The Double Constructed Microscope. - Mr. Ellis's Aquativ Microscope! Also included are many illustrations which explain the mechanics of optics. Additionally, many different types of microscopy apparatus are illustrated. The volume is a very large folio measuring 16 by 10 3/4 inches. In it are 32 of the most gorgeous scientific copperplate illustrations imaginable. - The plates for this work are extremely well crafted and as a result, are very detailed. They depict both carefully drawn views through microscopes as well as dozens of different kinds of microscopes themselves. - The large folio plate volume (28.25 cms x 40 cms) contains a letterpress title and 36 mezzotint or engraved plates on 32 leaves. The binding is half-calf with calf corner tips and marbled paper boards. The extremities are rubbed a bit, the top 1/4 inch of the spine is tattered, and the first blank page is loosening - but these are minor points. The plates are exceptionally clean and often pristine. - The text volume is a thick 4 to (30 cms x 20 cms). It is 724 pages long and save for some minor light toning and a last leaf which is torn in blank gutter and laminated - it is in excellent condition. It does indeed include the famous frontispiece "To the King: Sir, very work that tends to enlarge the boundaries of science ...", but it is missing the allegorical frontispiece. The binding is modern imitation morocco and is in perfect condition. - € 3.000/5.000 - (92/50)
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