first edition
1751 · Paris :
by MACQUER, Pierre Joseph (1718-1784).
Paris :: Jean-Thomas Herissant, 1751., 1751. 12mo. [20*], 263, [17] pp. [* actual collation on the 18th page shows "xx", a misprint, followed by [2] pages unnumbered]. Half-title, title vignette, woodcut header, large initial letter, 4 engraved folding plates (3 are of chemical apparatus, 1 of chemical symbols). Original full mottled calf, gilt-stamped spine; rubbed, a few small worm trails at lower joints. Ownership inscription at rear [hard to read, except the final word, which is correct – the book was owned by a surgeon: Marquise/Maspuce J. De la Guette[?!] chirurgien] Very good. [285] Second edition. In this work Macquer details the basic principles of chemistry, giving particular attention to salts, spices, metals, oils, fermentation, putrefaction, and more. The book also describes various apparatus used in chemistry, their construction, etc. / "A reprint (probably pirated) of the well-received first edition (Paris, 1749) in which the text has been completely reset and the plates have been less elegantly engraved in reverse, omitting the name of the original engraver (Mathey). The text is printed in smaller type than the genuine first edition, and the woodcut on the title page, headpieces, and initials are different from those in the first edition . . . very rare." – Neville. / Pierre-Joseph Macquer was a renowned and influential French chemist. "He was elected to the Paris Academy of Science in 1745 and began to concentrate on the practical applications of chemistry. In 1749 he found a method of dyeing wool and silk with Prussian blue, previously known only as an insoluble artists' pigment. He became more widely known through his two textbooks Elemens de chymie theorique (1749) and Elemens de chymie pratique (1751) which were reprinted several times and translated into English and other languages." – Smeaton. REFERENCES: Coleby 128; DSB VII, pp. 618-624; Neville II, p. 120; Partington III, p. 80. This edition not in Duveen, Ferguson. See: W. A. Smeaton, "Pierre Joseph Macquer, Early Attempts to Melt Platinum." Platinum Metals Rev., 1984, 28, (1), 25.
(Inventory #: S14206)