GILBERT, William (1544-1603) - photo 1
GILBERT, William (1544-1603) - photo 2
GILBERT, William (1544-1603) - photo 3
GILBERT, William (1544-1603) - photo 4

GILBERT, William (1544-1603)

Starting price
£ 18 000
Auction dateClassic
12.07.2023 00:00UTC +01:00
Auctioneer
CHRISTIE'S
Event location
United Kingdom, London
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 993337
Lot 113 | 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). Dibner Heralds of Science 54; ESTC S121112; Grolier/Horblit 41; Norman 905; PMM 107; Wellcome 2830.



Folio (282 x 180mm). Woodcut printer’s device on title with Gilbert’s arms on verso; folding woodcut diagram, other illustrations in text, some full-page, a little early underlining or words added in ink, (a couple of small marginal tears [not affecting text]; folding diagram with neatly repaired small tear and hole restored; occasional minor stains). Slightly later mottled calf with double gilt fillet border to sides, spine in six compartments with raised bands gilt, lettered in the second compartment (re-cased, slightly rubbed). Provenance: early signature on title [illegible].





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12.07.2023 – 12.07.2023
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