Milestones of Science Books

BOYLE, Robert.

Certain Physiological Essays, Written at Distant Times, and On Several Occasions.

London: Henry Herringman, 1669.

2nd Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Item #002483

4to (215 x158 mm). [8] 1-292, [4] 1-30 [2] pp., including half-title bound after title, two advertisement leaves, and final blank. Separate title-page and pagination for "Of Absolute Rest of Bodies," dated 1669. Early cat's paw calf, spine with 4 raised bands, gilt in compartments and with gilt morocco lettering piece, boards ruled and decorated in gilt (joint ends split, boards bowed outward, extremities rubbed), red-sprinkled edges. Internally crisp and unmarked with very little browning or occasional foxing, margins a bit dust soiled in places. Provenance: The library of Hugh Selbourne (small ink stamp to title verso); William Charles de Meuron, Earl Fitzwilliam (bookplate to front pastedown). Fine copy. ----

Fulton 26; Krivatsy 1667; Norman 301; Osler 939; Wellcome II, p.221; Wing B3930. - Second enlarged edition with Boyle's important treatise Of Absolute Rest of Bodies, not included in the first edition. "The importance of the 'Essays' lies in the fact that in a very real sense it was a 'prologue' to the more widely known 'Sceptical Chymist' since it continued the attack on the alchemists begun in 'New Experiments', and actually it was as much a landmark in the history of chemistry. In the 'Essays' Boyle gives the first clear outline of his corpuscular hypothesis concerning the nature of matter, which was to be the guiding principle of all his later chemical studies; he also set forth the concept in greater detail in 'Forms and Qualities' (1666) ... The 'Essays' must have been widely read, since it appeared twice in English and nine times in Latin." (Fulton, p.20-21).

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