Experiences physico-mechaniques sur différens sujets, et principalement sur la lumiere et l'electricité, produites par le frottement des corps
Paris, Cavelier, 1754. 2 volumes in-8 de I. CLXXVI, 490, (2) pages et 5 planches numérotées 1 à 4 ; et de II. (2), 596 pages et 2 planches numérotées 5 à 6, soit 7 planches dont 6 dépliantes ; veau marbré de l'époque, dos à nerfs orné (mors frottés, coins émoussés, petit manque de cuir et restauration en bas du premier mors du premier volume). Item #YEG-564
Première édition française "prefaced by a valuable Discours historique et raisonné sur les expériences de M. Hauksbee by Nicolas Desmarest who points out the mutual influence fo Hauksbee and Newton". (DSB VI p. 175). "Hauksbee is remembered for his experiments on electroluminescence, static electricity, and capillarity. His discoveries were first published in a series of papers in the Society's Philosophical Transactions and finally brought together in his Physico-Mechanical Exeperiments on various subsjects. Translated into Italian, Dutch, and French, Hausbee's book was widely read in the eighteenth century. His desmonstration that glass is a convenient and malleable material for producing frictional electricity opened the way for the work of Stephen Gray, Charles de Cisternay Dufay and Benjamin Franklin. His discoveries had a marked influence on the later speculatons of Isaac Newton and a century later Laplace turned to Hauskbees book when he embarked on his study of capillarity." (DSB VI pp. 169/175). Galerie de vers dans la marges des pages 390 à la fin du premier volume, sans atteinte au texte ni aux gravures, sinon très bon exemplaire.
Price: €750.00