[Rarebooks] fa: 1768 Gentleman's Magazine DR. FRANKLIN'S MAGIC SQUARE & CIRCLE + AMERICA +

[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 again,
Ardwight Chamberlain
L.A.

The Gentleman's Magazine, and Historical Chronicle. Volume XXXVIII [38]. For the Year MDCCLXVIII [1768]. London: Printed at St. John's Gate for D. Henry, [1768]. Twelve monthly issues (Jan.-Dec.), plus the supplement, volume title, indices and preface. Thick 8vo in early quarter calf and marbled boards; [4] + 625 + [11] pp.; numerous in-text charts and tables, woodcut diagrams and illustrations, musical notation; plus 20 engraved plates, 7 of which are folding (complete as per the directions to the binder).

Binding with wear and rubbing, some loss of leather at the spine ends, exterior joints cracked a bit, but front and rear boards are secure; contents mildly toned with some scattered light spotting and darkening to the edges; intermittent offsetting from the letterpress, affecting some plates; otherwise quite clean and sound, firmly bound. Front paste-down with the engraved armorial bookplate of J. Comyns, Wood [Devon].

This volume with many science-related articles, including:

	  ZOOLOGY. Plates of: the Horned Viper of Egypt, coluber cerastes (folding); the American Armadilla (armadillo); the Gerbua (jerboa); a Zoophyte, actinea societa, or clustered Animal Flower; the Jaculator Fish (archer fish); three Marine Insects; the Chinese Argus Pheasant (offsetting). Woodcuts of Fossil Fishes' teeth.
	  ANATOMY & MEDICINE. Plates of: the Position of the Occipital Aperture in the Skulls of Animals (folding); a Monstrous Human Foetus.
	  BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. Two plates, each with accompanying text, of "Dr. Franklin's Magic Square of Squares [and] Magic Circle of Circles" (offsetting), ingenious mathematical arrangements. Elsewhere, in an article on the Qualifications of a Physician, the anonymous author notes: "To the ingenious Franklin our colonies owe the warmest gratitude, who, by investigating the nature and causes of thunder and lightning, hath pointed out the method of warding off their destructive effects…"
	  TECHNOLOGY & INVENTIONS. Plates of: a Cart, with the Machinery contrived to load itself with gravel by the drawing of the horse; Hadley's Quadrant improved (folding); a Steam-vessel to raise water; a Rolling Cart for Amendment & Preservation of Roads… as built by James Sharpe (folding); a Dendrometer (folding). Woodcut of an Anemometer.
Other features of note include:

	  Extensive coverage of the gathering storm in the AMERICAN COLONIES, including recurring Letters relative to the present state of America and Papers relative to the Troubles in America; ("Last Friday se'nnight the officers of the customs, made a seizure of a sloop, belonging to John Hancock, Esq…."; "Letters from Fort Pitt in America are full of joy on the success of the late congress held there for settling annually all differences with the Indian tribes in that quarter…"; "Advices from America have been received , that things are in a great confusion in New York, and that at Boston they threatened to pull down the Custom house…") etc., etc., etc.
	  A folding plate of JOHN WILKES before the Court of King's Bench, surrendering himself, on April 20, 1768.
	  A folding plate of the KING OF DENMARK'S procession on the River Thames from Whitehall to the Temple, Sept. 23, 1768; portraits of Paschal Paoli and Lord Chief Justice Mansfield.
	  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.