[Rarebooks] FS: 1733 on Aurora Borealis

[Joslin Hall Rare Books, ABAA]

Mairan, Jean Jacques d'Ortous de.  TRAITE PHYSIQUE ET HISTORIQUE DE 
l'AURORE BORE'ALE.

Paris; l'Imprimerie Royale: 1733.

The first edition of a classic and beautiful work on the Aurora Borealis. 
Mairan (1678-1771) believed the phenomena to be attributable to "zodiacal 
light" and an extension of the Sun's atmosphere into our own.  The plates, 
which were engraved by Philippe Simonneau, illustrate declinations as well 
as a number of views of the lights, with views of the lights at Giessen on 
the 17th of February, 1721, and Brevillepont on the 26th of September, 
1726, the 19th of October, 1726 and the 6th of September, 1731.

The problem of illustrating light with the engraver's tool is a daunting 
one, but Simonneau has created a series of evocative, vivid 
impressions.  Mairan was an interesting man, a member of the Academie 
Royale des Sciences, and a fellow of the Royal Society in London, with a 
wide circle of correspondence.  He wrote a popular treatise on the 
formation of ice, and became interested in ancient China and Egypt, 
theorizing that the ancient Egyptians had established a colony in 
China.  This book, the first major study of the Aurora, was reissued in 
1754 with two additional plates.

Hardcover.  8"x10", [8] 281, [i] pages, 15 engraved folding plates; bound 
in full period polished calf with gilt spine decorations, marbled 
endpapers.  With a handsome engraved armorial bookplate (unidentified) and 
a small, modern label.  Some separation along the front hinge, but the 
cords are tight. $1500

Images- <http://www.joslinhall.com/images/th-02628.jpg>


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