[Rarebooks] fa: 1750 Gentleman's Magazine BENJAMIN FRANKLIN & ELECTRICITY + LINNAEUS on SNAKES +

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed now, along with other antiquarian science & mathematics, auction ending Sunday, September 29. More details and images can be found at the URL below or by searching under the seller name arch_in_la.

http://tinyurl.com/m3opbap

Thanks,
Ardwight Chamberlain
L.A.




The Gentleman's Magazine, and Historical Chronicle. Volume XX [20]. For the Year MDCCL [1750]. London: Printed by Edw. Cave, at St. John's Gate, [1750]. Eleven monthly issues, plus the supplement, volume title, indices and preface. Tall, thick 8vo, untrimmed (22.5 cm), in early quarter calf and marbled boards; [4], 96, 145-597 + [19] pp.; numerous in-text charts and tables, woodcut diagrams, illustrations and plans, musical notation, plus 25 engraved plates (14 of which are folding).

Binding rubbed and a bit tender, joints cracked, front board secure, rear board held by the cords; bound without the March issue (not affecting contents listed below); one text leaf (p. 373, "poetical essays" for August) with a piece torn away; one or two folding plates with short tears at the margins; some dust-soiling/browning to the untrimmed edges of the text block; mild intermittent toning and spotting to the leaves, most noticeable on the first and last few leaves; otherwise the contents are quite clean and sound, securely bound. Front paste-down with the engraved armorial bookplate of J. Comyns, Wood [Devon].

An extraordinary volume of this mighty organ of the Age of Enlightenment, particularly (but not exclusively) notable for its contents related to SCIENCE, including:

	  An article entitled "A curious Remark on Electricity, from a Gentleman in America," one of the first published notices of BENJAMIN FRANKLIN'S early experiments with electricity and lightning rods, extracted from a letter to his friend Peter Collinson ("P.C."), and accompanied by a small woodcut diagram. (The magazine's editor and publisher, Edward Cave, was so taken with Franklin's experiments that he eventually erected a lightning rod on the tower of St John's Gate, the edifice so familiar from the monthly title-page of his periodical.) There are at least two other related articles elsewhere in the volume: one describing "a Number of Experiments lately made in Philadelphia [by which] several of the Properties of the Electrical Fire were demonstrated…"; and another, a woodcut diagram of an ELECTRICAL MACHINE ("Electric Sun") with a detailed description of the "Electric Copernican System from Professor Heinsius, of Leipsic."
	  An account by CARL LINNAEUS of "A small venomous Serpent, not before taken notice of." Translated from the Swedish of "Dr. Linnaeus" and accompanied by a woodcut illustration, this is a rare contemporary article in English by the great botanist and zoologist, originator of the Linnaean system of taxonomy.
	  VOLCANOLOGY: Three folding plates of Mount Vesuvius, Mount Aetna and "Vulcan's Court near Putzol in Naples," with accompanying text.
	  ZOOLOGY: Two folding plates of an East Indian Leopard and Leopardess, and the Green Crown Bird (Crowned Crane) and the Flammant (Flamingo); woodcut illustrations of a sea lion and sea calf, red-throated hummingbird, the pelican of America, the East Indian manis (Indian pangolin or scaly anteater), and the Metamorphosis of Maggots.
	  BOTANY: Four engraved plate leaves of flowers and plants, including plants of Nova Scotia ("drawn from the Life at Halifax, July 15, 1749, by M. Harris").
	  ENGINEERING: Folding plate of five Bridges (Pont Royal, Westminster Bridge, etc.) and three (woodcut) Designs for Wooden Bridges; woodcut diagram and description of a "cheap nocturnal Horologe."
	  Illustrated articles on: LUNAR ECLIPSES; a four-wheel CARRIAGE drawn over Newmarket Course, 19 Miles in 54 Minutes; an ancient ROMAN SWEATING-STOVE (Hypocaustum); CHIMNEY construction; a Brush for cleansing the Stomach; plus other articles on the aurora borealis, meteors, hermaphroditism, longitude, inoculating for the small pox, crocodiles, etc., etc.
Notable non-scientific features include:

	  NOVA SCOTIA: a Plan of the Harbour at Chebucto and Town of Halifax (on a folding plate which also depicts such native fauna as a Porcupine, a Musk Beetle, the Orange-underwing Tiger Moth, and the white admirable Moth, as well as the Coats of Arms of Nova Scotia and the Baronets of Nova Scotia), accompanied by an "Extract of a Letter from a Person of note in Nova Scotia, communicated to the Publick… to supply the defects and errors of other accounts." Also of interest, elsewhere in the volume, is "A Letter said to be sent by the Indian Prince of Nova Scotia, to the English governor" in which the prince lays claim to Chebucto.
	  GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL: contemporary musical notation for "The Address to Sylvia. Musick by Mr. Handel."
	  TWO AFRICAN PRINCES: engraved portraits of William Ansah Sessarakoo, "son of… Eukobab, daughter of Ansab Sessarakoo, king of Aquamboo…" and Job Ben Solomon, whose remarkable story is told here: seized in Africa and sold into slavery in Maryland, his freedom was eventually purchased by James Oglethorpe; brought to London, he impressed Sir Hans Sloane, Queen Caroline, the Duke of Cumberland, and others, before at last returning to his native land.
	  HANNAH SNELL, THE "FEMALE SOLDIER": an important early account of the adventures of Hannah Snell, who, posing as a a man, joined the marines and fought in India, where she was reportedly wounded eleven times (once in the groin). Accompanied by a woodcut portrait. Her gender was revealed in June of this year (1750) and, surprisingly, she was given an honorable discharge and granted a pension.
	  HERALDRY: five leaves of plates of the Orders of Knighthood and Baronets Arms.
	  View of the CATARACT OF PISTIL RHAIAD'R in Denbighshire (engraved plate).
	  FOLDING PLATES of the Elevations of the Eight Gates of London, Palace of Fontainbleau, Church of St. Stephen in Walbrook, Ironmongers Hall, the Choir of St. Paul's Cathedral, an antique Vase of Agate.
	  Plus monthly Prices of Stocks and Goods, Accounts of Theatrical Performances, Register of Books published, Bills of Mortality, Obituaries, lists of Bankrupts and Promotions; and much, much more.