On some new Electro-Magnetical Motions, and on the Theory of Magnetism. WITH: New Electro-Magnetic Apparatus. WITH: Description of an Electro-Magnetical Apparatus for the Exhibition of Rotary Motion. WITH: Note on New Electro-Magnetical Motions

London: John Murray, 1822. First edition. Contemporary three-quarter calf rebacked. Very Good. FARADAY INVENTS THE ELECTRIC MOTOR: FIRST EDITION of Faraday’s first paper on electromagnetism, recording “the first conversion of electrical into mechanical energy. It also contained the first notion of the line of force” (DSB). The former was the basis of the electric motor; the latter “in the hands of James Clerk Maxwell, was to be the basis of classical field theory” (Pearce Williams, Michael Faraday). "In 1820 Hans Christian Ørsted announced his discovery that the flow of an electric current through a wire produced a magnetic field around the wire. André-Marie (truncated) Ampère followed on and showed that the magnetic force apparently was a circular one, producing in effect a cylinder of magnetism around the wire. No such circular force had ever before been observed.

"Self-taught British scientist Michael Faraday (1791 – 1867) was the first to understand what these discoveries implied. If a magnetic pole could be isolated, it ought to move constantly in a circle around a current-carrying wire.

"In 1821 Faraday set about trying to understand the work of Ørsted and Ampère, devising his own experiment using a small mercury bath. This device, which transformed electrical energy into mechanical energy, was the first electric motor...

"The motor features a stiff wire which hangs down into a glass vessel which has a bar magnet secured at the bottom. The glass vessel would then be part filled with mercury (a metal that is liquid at room temperature and an excellent conductor). Faraday connected his apparatus to a battery, which sent electricity through the wire creating a magnetic field around it. This field interacted with the field around the magnet and caused the wire to rotate clockwise.

"This discovery led Faraday to contemplate the nature of electricity. Unlike his contemporaries, he was not convinced that electricity was a material fluid that flowed through wires like water through a pipe. Instead, he thought of it as a vibration or force that was somehow transmitted as the result of tensions created in the conductor." (website for The Royal Institution).

Faraday's paper first explaining the forces and operation of his motor is the first paper of his in this volume ("On some new Electro-Magnetical Motions, and on the Theory of Magnetism"). The subsequent three papers go in-depth describing the nature of his apparatus. Complete with two engraved plates.

Published in The Quarterly Journal, the official publication of The Royal Institution of Great Britain. Faraday had a lifelong association with The Royal Institution – where he conducted his experiments – starting as an assistant to Sir Humphry Davy in 1813 and later becoming Director of the Laboratory and Fullerian Professor of Chemistry. The Quarterly Journal is surprisingly rare - in 1822 it did not have nearly the reach of the major scientific journals such as the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.

IN: The Quarterly Journal of Science, Literature, and the Arts, vol XII. London: John Murray, 1822. Faraday papers on pp. 74-96; 186-187; 283-285; 416-421. With seven engraved plates at rear (two for Faraday papers); additional charts bound in text. Small octavo, contemporary three-quarter calf sympathetically rebacked, marbled boards. Occasional soiling, but generally exceptionally clean with wide margins. One of Faraday's major works. RARE. (Inventory #: 2929)