Polnoye sobraniye sochineniy - photo 1

Polnoye sobraniye sochineniy

Lot 54
27.01.2023 10:00UTC +00:00
Classic
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$ 20 160
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 887827
Lot 54 | Polnoye sobraniye sochineniy
Estimate value
$ 6 000 – 9 000
LOMONOSOV, Mikhail Vasilievich (1711–1765). Polnoye sobraniye sochineniy Mikhayla Vasil'yevicha Lomonosova. S priobshcheniem zhizni sochinitelia i s pribavleniem mnogikh ego nigdie eshche ne napechatannykh tvorenii. [Works.] St Petersburg: Imperial Academy of Sciences, 1784-1787.

First collected edition of Lomonosov’s writings; a majority of the contents are published here for the first time, or for the first time in the original Russian texts. The great polymath of the Russian Enlightenment and "father of Russian science," Lomonosov was revered by Pushkin as "Russia’s first university." Mendeleev hailed him for proposing the first "modern theory of the atomic structure of matter." Lomonosov also anticipated Lavoisier in propounding the theory of conservation of mass in chemical reactions. He developed a wave theory of light, a kinetic theory of gases, improved the designs of reflective and refractive telescopes, and developed a theory of electricity at the same time as Benjamin Franklin, who admired Lomonosov’s researches.

Lomonosov made significant contributions to the fields of chemistry, metallurgy, electricity, physics, optics, and astronomy, along with pioneering ethnographic and linguistic studies of the Russian peoples. "His scientific creativity consisted especially in his theoretical union of two basic concepts – the atomic (recognition of the discrete structure of matter) and the kinetic (recognition that particles of matter are endowed with motion). It was by basing this theory on the most general concept of the law of conservation of matter and motion that Lomonosov demonstrated experimentally the conservation of matter. A number of predictions in physics and chemistry derived from the combination of these three concepts were not verified until many years after his death" (DSB). Lomonosov became the first Russian member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, established for it the first scientific chemical laboratory in Russia, and was its first professor. Under the aegis of Catherine the Great and along with along with his patron Count Ivan Shuvalov he founded Moscow University. "During the late 1750’s Lomonosov became interested in exploration and, extending his earlier work on mining and metallurgy, in the exploration of Russia’s natural resources… Interested in navigation, especially of the northern seas, in 1759 he invented a number of instruments for astronomy and navigation, including a self-recording compass, and reflected on the precise determination of a ship’s route" (ibid). In 1761 he observed the transit of Venus, and in so doing discovered evidence that Venus had an atmosphere. The annual award for achievements in science presented by the Russian Academy of Sciences is named in his honor.

The first two volumes contain miscellaneous works, mostly literary. Volume three comprises his chemical researches and atomic theories, and electrical, astronomical, and other scientific investigations. Four is entirely devoted to mineralogy and metallurgy; five to ethnographic studies, and six to the linguistics and grammar of languages within the Russian empire.

Six volumes, quarto (250 x 190 mm). Engraved portrait frontispiece and 16 engraved plate. Contemporary Russian tree calf, spines with gilt neoclassical ornaments and red and black labels (heads and tails of spines slightly worn). Provenance: some contemporary annotations in volumes 5 and 6.
Place of origin:Russia
Auction house category:Printed books
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
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13.01.2023 – 27.01.2023
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
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