GILBERT, William (1544-1603). - photo 1
GILBERT, William (1544-1603). - photo 2
GILBERT, William (1544-1603). - photo 3

GILBERT, William (1544-1603).

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£ 23 940
Auction dateClassic
13.07.2022 10:30UTC +01:00
Auctioneer
CHRISTIE'S
Event location
United Kingdom, London
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ID 794456
Lot 162 | GILBERT, William (1544-1603).
GILBERT, William (1544-1603).

De magnete, magneticisque corporibus, et de magno magnete tellure; Physiologia nova, plurimis & argumentis, & experimentis demonstrata. London: P. Short, 1600.

First edition of the first great scientific book printed in England. Magnets had been objects of fascination from antiquity, but a truly scientific approach did not develop in Europe until knowledge of the magnetic compass arrived from China in the later Middle Ages. Gilbert, a physician to Queen Elizabeth I, brought the study of magnetism and its related phenomena into the modern age. He coined the term electricity and designed the first device for its study: the versorium, which functioned as both an electroscope and an electrometer. ‘He contended that the earth was one great magnet; he distinguished magnetic mass from weight; and he worked on the application of terrestrial magnetism to navigation […] Gilbert's book influenced Kepler, Bacon, Boyle, Newton and, in particular, Galileo, who used his theories to support his own proof of the correctness of the findings of Copernicus in cosmology’ (PMM). Horblit 41; PMM 107.



Folio (288 x 190mm). Woodcut printer’s device on title with Gilbert’s arms on verso; folding woodcut diagram; woodcut illustrations in text (a few tiny wormholes in lower margin, faint scattered spotting). Contemporary yapped vellum, title in ink on spine (minor soiling). Provenance: Bibliotheca Academiae Juliae Carolinae, Helmstedt (gift inscription dated 1622 from German Catholic Bishop and correspondent of Athanasius Kircher, Barthold Nihus (1590-1657); stamp and de-accession stamp) — Herbert McLean Evans (bookplate) — Joseph Halle Schaffner (sold Sotheby’s NY, 18 June 2002, lot 22).





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