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Papers by William Crookes

Welcome to Plasma!

CROOKES, William.  "A Fourth State of Matter", in Nature, 17 June 1880, pp 153-4, in the weekly issue of pp 141-164.  This is the popular appearance of the article that appeared in the Philosophical Transactions for the week earlier, June 10.  Very good  copy in the original wrappers, removed from a larger bound volume.  $150

CROOKES, WIlliam.  "Contributions to Molecular Physics in High Vacua", in Nature, volume 22, June 3, 1880, pp 101-104.  OFFERED WITH: Crookes, "Contributions to Molecular Physics in High Vacua, II", in Nature, June 10, 1880, pp 125-128.  Both are in their original wrappers, removed from a larger bound volumes.  Nice copies.  $150

CROOKES, William with Lecoq de Boisbaudran.   "Radiant Matter Spectroscopy", in Nature, July 23, 1885, pp 2183-286 in the weekly issue of pp 265-288.  Wrappers, cleanly extracted from a larger bound volume.  $100

Fine Wall Map of the U.S., 1853

Map of the United States from the Latest Authorities. Thayer, Bridgman, Fanning. 1853.

Large 44” x 38” wall map showing cities large and small, rivers, lakes, and other natural formations. The map covers the United States to just west of the Mississippi River, getting into east Texas and north to the Canadian border. There are two inset maps: one smaller, showing Florida; the other larger, showing the rest of the U.S. Territories to the West Coast.

Uncommon. No listing for this map in WorldCat/OCLC. $2500.00

There is a charming cartouche, with the highly decorated borders featuring the names of the states with their very basic data.

Numerous cracks across the surface of the map as you can see in the detail photos.

Full margins.

 

Saving the Lives of Miners Everywhere (1816)

Davy, Sir Humphry, “On the Fire-Damp of Coal Mines, containing an Account of an Invention for Lighting the Mines, and consuming the Fire-Damp, without danger to the Miner” In: Edinburgh Review, or Critical Journal for June 1826...September 1816, Vol 26 No. Li, Edinburgh, printed by the Heirs of D Williams,1816; iv, 510pp, 8.25x5.5”. Rebound in modern cloth. Very tidy, in FINE condition. $250

The Edinburgh Reivew was a sort of TLS and NYTBR for its day, with very long and penetrating articles reviewing books and reports on a very wide range of topics, as well as being one of the most popular journals in Great Britain for half a century.

“On the Fire-Damp of Coal Mines, containing an Account of an Invention for Lighting the Mines, and consuming the Fire-Damp, without danger to the Miner” was published February 1816, was a review of the important discovery reported by Davy just weeks before in the Philosophical Transactions. Davy (1778-1829, knighted in 1812) already the most famous chemist in Great Britain, in 1815 attacked the subject of safety lighting in mines—this in response to ongoing problems and disasters in mine lighting igniting “fire-damp”. (“Fire-damp” or “damps”, perhaps deriving from the German “dampf” for “vapor”, correlates to a number of explosive gases found especially in bituminous coal mines, and particularly in reference to methane.)

Following the catastrophic explosions at the Felling Colliery (May 25, 1812) in which 92 men and boys were killed there was a very general rush to concern all levels of society to find a solution to this dreadful problem. 

The present (6pp) article appears in the Edinburgh immediately following Davy’s technical publication in the Phil Trans, for which, oddly enough, there is no reference, even though there are bits here and there in the ER that seem to me directly lifted from the PT paper.  In any event this must be about the earliest ‘popular” appearance announcing Davy’s very significant find. 

The ER article is a fine summary of Davy’s experimental work—much deeper than I expected. It ends with a great series of compliments to Davy:

“The result is as wonderful as it is important. An invisible and impalpable barrier made effectual against a force the most violent and irresistible in its operations—and a power that, in its tremendous effects, seemed to emulate the lightning and the earthquake—confined within a narrow space, and shut up in a net of the most slender texture—are facts which must excite a degree of wonder and astonishment, from which, neither ignorance nor wisdom can defend the beholder.”
“When to this we add the beneficial consequences, and the saving of the lives of men, and consider that the effects are to remain as long as coal continues to be dug from the bowels of the earth, it may fairly be said, that there is hardly, in the whole compass of Art or Science, a single invention, of which one would rather wish to be the author. It is little that the highest praise, and that even the voice of national gratitude, when most strongly expressed, can add to the happiness of one who is conscious of having done such a service to his fellow men. We hope, however, that some distinguished mark of such gratitude will not be wanting, to a person, who, by disarming one of the most powerful agents of destruction, has so well merited a Civic Crown. In this, indeed, the honour of the giver is more interested than that of the receiver: The latter may not admit
of much increase; but it nevertheless becomes those, who administer the affairs of a free People, to show themselves grateful for benefits conferred even on the humblesland most obscure of their fellow citizens.”

Here’s the reference for Davy in the Philosophical Transactions, “On the fire-damp of coal mines, and on methods of lighting the mines so as to prevent its explosion. Read November 9, 1815. (And) An account of an invention for giving light in explosive mixtures of fire-damp in coal mines, by consuming the fire-damp.”

Economics in the Edinburgh Review, 1802-1810

47 papers in 17 volumes, plus many dozens of other papers in varied areas. Contains contributions by Malthus (4), Brougham (21), Horner (8), Jeffrey (3), Napier (2), Ellis (1), Allen (4), Alex. Hamilton (1), Buchanan (1), James Mill (1), Mackintosh (1). The Edinburgh Review was “the closest thing Great Britain had to an economic journal” (Fetter, “The Authorship of Economic Articles in the Edinburgh Review, 1802-47”, in the Journal of Political Economy, 1953).

8.5”x 5.25”, vols 1-17. All bound in the same nice cloth. Text has some browning and foxing; bindings nearly as-new. It seems unlikely, but all of these are Second through 11^th editions, published between 1812 to 1821; the originals being 1802-1811.

(Note: all of this information regarding authorship--including the use of teh parenthetic "possibly" and "probably" is taken from the terrific piece of research by Fetter, noted above.)

October, 1802

• “Irvine's Emigration from the Highlands”, Francis Horner
• “The Utility of Country Banks”, Horner;
• “Thornton on the Paper Credit”, Horner;
• “Crisis of the Sugar Colonies”, by Henry Brougham;

January, 1803

• “Canard's Principes d'economie politique”, by Horner;

April, 1803

• “Guineas an Unnecessary and Expensive”, by Brougham;
• “Incumbrance on Commerce, Sir John Sinclair's Essays”, by Francis Jeffrey;

July, 1803

• “Lord King's Thoughts on the Restriction Payments in Specie at the Banks of England and Ireland” , Horner;

October, 1803

• “Wheatley's Remarks on Currency and Commerce”, by Brougham;

Iron Lighthouses, Aluminum, Engineering and Farm Implements, Non-photographic Photographs, and more (1856)

Journal of the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, Vol 31 (third series), volume 61 (overall), January-June 1856, 443 pp.,with text illustrations, and three plates, including one folding.. Half-calf, with raised bands. Ex-library, with some scuffing on the spine; also a few stamps on the title page. Nice copy. $225 Contains many articles of interest, including an early report on industrialized aluminum, “nature printing”, the McCormack reaper patent case, lighthouses, the Suez Canal, and a lot more, including:

“Aluminum, the So-Called New Metal”, pp 27-31 and “History and Properties of Aluminium”, pp 65-7. I'd like to point out that I rarely see the hyphenated word “so-called” in the JFI. That said, aluminum had been around for 100+ years at this point, and then first truly described by Wohler, though it wasn't until the period of this vol of the JFI that aluminum was produced in such a way as to be industrially useful.

Henry Bradbury, “On Nature Printing”, pp 37-39. This was a style of printing in which a sample was impressed on a sheet of soft lead and then electroplated and use as a printing block, the result being some very defined imagery. Bradbury perfects a style of this printing and found it very useful even in the early age of mass-produced photo images. 

“The Canal through the Isthmus of Suez”, pp 150-155, with a lovely litho view of the canal;

G. Herbert, “On the Construction of Buoys, Beacons, and other stationary floating bodies”, pp79-84;

J. Vaughan Merrick, “On the History and Construction of Iron Lighthouses, with a description of Coffin's Patches Light”, pp 145-150, with a lovely lithographic plate.

George Simmons, “Method of Calculating Excavation and Embankment”, pp 1-4;

Edward Allen, “Mechanical Engineering as applied to Farm Implements”, pp 41-45, 138-142 (with text illustrations), 186-190, 258-260, 334-338, 397-406 (to be concluded in the next volume)

C.H. McCormick vs. J.H. Manny, “Law Reports of Patent Cases: the Reaper Case”, pp 176-186;

David Stevenson, “Remarks on Floating and Fixed Lighthouses”, pp 221-227; John W. Nystrom, “Experiments on Sound for the Application of Ringing Bells”, pp 260-266; R.D. Thomson, “On the Condition of the Atmosphere during Cholera”, pp 202-204.

Also:

Erastus W. Smith, “United States Steam Mailer Fulton”, pp 339-340, with a beautiful folding plate of the ship.

 

EDINBURGH REVIEW—a continuing series of posts of volumes for sale in this series.

The Edinburgh Reivew was a sort of TLS and NYTBR for its day, with very long and penetrating articles reviewing books and reports on a very wide range of topics.

• Available so far: 1825, 1826, 1828, 1831, 1833, 1835 (many more to come).
• For 1802-1810, see the very last entry.

1825/6

The Edinburgh Review and Critical Journal, November 1825 to February 1826. Published in Edinburgh, printed by Ballantyne & Co., 1826. 9'x6 , (2), 519pp. Recently rebound in modern linen, with new endpapers. Very crisp. Very Good copy. $125

Three good papers in economics/political economy:

"A Discourse on the Rise, Progress, Peculiar Objects, and Importance of Political Economy: Containing an Outline of a Course of Lectures on the Principles and Doctrines of that Science" by J. R. M'Culloch, Esq.,[book review] pp 1-23; "Reports and Evidence upon the State of Ireland. Ordered to be printed by the House of Lords and the House of Commons, Sessions 1824 1825"; and "Thoughts on the Education of the Irish Poor", by J. O'Driscoll.

Also:

"England enslaved by her own Slave Colonies. An Address to the Electors and People of the United Kingdom", by James Stephen, Esq., long review of a 91pp paper published in the same year, 1826, pp 406-422. Stephen (1758-1832) was the principal English lawyer associated with the abolitionist movement (Wiki), writer, and great-grandfather of Virginia Woolf.  "Thoughts on Popular Education"; "Considerations on the Game-Laws", by Edward Lord Suffield; "Considerations on the Expediency of the Law of Entail in Scotland", by Patrick Irvine, Esq.; "Reports and Evidence on the State of Ireland, ordered to be printed by the House of Lords and the House of Commons. Session 1825"; "A Treatise on the Law of Landlord and Tenant in Ireland", by John Finlay, Esq.

1828: Exploration, Police Reports, and Alehouses

Edinburgh Review, or Critical Journal for June 1826...September 1826, Edinburgh, printed by the Heirs of D Williams, 1826; iv, 526pp, volume 44, 8.25x5.5”. Rebound in modern cloth. Very tidy, in FINE condition. $75  For example, for this volume we have:

Several reviews of early attempts at reaching the North Pole:

“Narrative of a Second Expedition to the Shores of the Polar Sea, in the years 1825, 1826, and 1827”, by John Franklin, Captain; “Narrative of an Attempt to reach the North Pole, in 1827”, by William Edward Parry, Captain R.N. F.R.S. “Remarks on the Probability of Reaching the North Pole; being an Examination of the Recent Expedition under Captain Parry”, by the Rev. William Scoresby, F.R.S. Pp 423-451.

“(A Letter to the Lord Lieutenant of the County of Surrey...”) with the more interesting dropped title “Licensing of Alehouses” “The immense importance of a pint of ale to a common person should never be overlooked...”

Major Denham, “Narrative of Travels and Discoveries in Northern and Central Africa, in the Years 1822, 1823, and 1824. June 1826, pp 173-219.

George Combe, “A System of Phrenology”, September 1826 253-318;

“Massacre of St. Bartholomew”, June 1826, pp 95-155;

Also in the volume:

“History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus”, by Washington Irving, pp 1-32;

“The History of Painting in Italy, from the Period of the Revival of the Fine Arts, to the end of the 18th
Century”, translated from the original Italian of the Abate Luigi Lanzi., by Thomas Roscoe.

”Proceedings of the Expedition to explore the Northern Coast of Africa, from Tripoly eastward, in 1821-22; comprehending an Account of the Greater Syrtis and Cyrenaica, and of the ancient cities composing the Pentapolis”, by Captain F. W. Beechey. “The Life of Robert Burns”, y J. G. Lockhart,, . Pp267-312. “Narrative of a Journey through the Upper Provinces of India, from Calcutta to Bombay, 1824, 1825, (with Notes upon Ceylon;) an Account of a Journey to Madras and the Southern Provinces, 1826; and Letters written in India. By the late Right Reverend Reginald Hebe”. “A View of the present State and future Prospects of the Free Trade and Colonization of India; 312-348.

And some very interesting pre-Sherlockian London crime reporting: “Report from the Select Committee on the Police of the Metropolis, ordered, by the House of Commons...” pp 411-423.

A Gorgeous Lithograph of a U.S. Locomotive (1843)

Journal of the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, Vol 5 (third series) vol 35 overall, January-June 1843, with text illustrations. 430, 8 pp., and one folding plate. Half-calf, with raised bands. Ex-library, with some scuffing on the spine and leather cover tips nearly obscuring the gilt-stamped title; front joint sprung, though binding still tight; also a few stamps on the title page. In Solid GOOD condition.

The great attraction in this volume is the gorgeous lithograph of a steam railway locomotive illustrating “Letter from Charles Moering...to Messrs. Eastwick and Harrison, Locomotive Builders...Philadelphia”, pp 15-19. The illustration is 20”x 15” (folded), and titled “Eastwick & Harrison Patent Improved Locomotive”, lithographed by Duval of Philadelphia, drawn by J.R. Hoessli, and printed 1842. The name of the locomotive is “Mercury”. It is just a lovely things, nearly without blemish, with no tears along any folds.

Poncelet, “Memoir upon the Stability of Revetments...” translated by John Sanders, long article pp. 1-11, 73-79, 217-225, 289-295, 361-371, and concluded in the next volume (available elsewhere via this store). Also an article on a modern steam shovel (with illustration), painting frescoes, plus articles on various railways, roofing for a diorama, concrete, batteries, astronomical clocks, preserving timber, and much else.

The image is a little off-color in the left upper panel, though in reality there is no discoloration...I just couldn't get the shadow problem tackled. 

 

 

 

(Click to expand.)

Raman and Krishnan on the Nobel Prize Work on the Raman Effect (1928)

C.V. Raman and K.S. Krishnan, "The Optical Properties of the Compton Effect", in Nature, vol 121, No. 3053, May 5, 1928, the weekly issue, pp 697-736. Original wrappers, with a very fine and nearly invisible repair is made to the spine.   $200  

In this paper Raman (1886-1970) and Krishnan return to their earlier paper of February (pg 501, “A New Type of Secondary Radiation” of Nature in which the effect which bears Ramsn's name appears and for which Raman would be awarded the Nobel in 1930 ("for his work on the scattering of light and for the discovery of the effect named after him."--Nobel Prize organization). “Raman and K. S. Krishnan then undertook to isolate the effect under impeccable experimental conditions. They employed complementary light filters placed in the paths of the incident and scattered light, respectively, and observed a “new type of secondary radiation” from the scattering of focused beams of sunlight in both carefully purified liquid and dust-free air. They reported this discovery in a letter to Nature in February 1928. Raman then refined the experiment by using a mercury arc as the source of light; the effect was thus clearly seen for the first time on 28 February 1928 and was reported to the Science Congress at Bangalore the following month. The secondary radiation showed several lines shifted toward longer wavelengths, the shifts being characteristic of the substances being examined, and indicated the absorption of energy by the scattering molecule—the precise effect that had been predicted by A. Smekal in 1923. G. Landsberg and L. Mandelshtam, in the U.S.S.R., independently observed the same phenomenon in quartz, shortly after Raman and Krishnan”--DSB

Contemporary Review of Darwin's "Descent of Man" April 1871

[DARWIN, Charles]. Pye-Smith, P.H. A review of  The Descent of Man, and Selection in relation to Sex in two issues of Nature, a Weekly Illustrated Journal of Science. Two issues: vol. 3 #75, April 6, 1871, pp 441-460 and vol 3 #76, April 13, 1871, pp 461-480 in the weekly issue.  Both very nice copies with expertly repaired (with minimal invasion and maximum blendedness) spines. Offered in their original wrappers. Housed in a new and fine folding (and gilt-embossed gas).  $250 

Charles Darwin's  great classic The Descent of Man, and Selection in relation to Sex was published by John Murray (in two volumes) on 24 February 1871, and Prof /Dr Philip Henry  Pye-Smith (1839-1914) was quickly on board to review it six weeks after publication for Nature magazine in two issues for April 6 and the following issue for April 13, 1871.  pp 442-4 and pp 463-5, respectively. It is noted in the Darwin Online site that Darwin's use of the word "evolution" first appears in the first page of the first volume of this work (note following) and Pye-Smith's very favorable and highly complimentary review uses the word ("Evolution") in the first paragraph, and is so far as I can tell the second appearance of the word in the great journal Nature (of 45,000 more that would follow over the years). His review of the Darwin work is among the earliest, as is his own use of the word "evolution". ("Darwin wrote, in the preface to the second edition, of 'the fiery ordeal through which this book has passed'. He had avoided the logical outcome of the general theory of evolution, bringing man into the scheme, for twelve years, and in fact it had, by that time, been so much accepted that the clamour of the opposition was not strident. He had also been preceded in 1863 by Huxley's Man's place in nature. The book, in its first edition, contains two parts, the descent of man itself, and selection in relation to sex. The word 'evolution' occurs, for the first time in any of Darwin's works, on page 2 of the first volume of the first edition, that is to say before its appearance in the sixth edition of The origin of species in the following year.") 

Histoire de l' Academie Royale des Sciences, 1728

Histoire de l' Academie Royale des Sciences. Annee M. DCCXXVIII Avec le memoires de mathematique & de physique, pour la meme annee. Tires des registres de cette academie. Printed in Amsterdam by Pierre Moerier, 1732. volumes 1 and 2, complete. The two volume work is 6.5”x3.5” and is in two sections with three working title pages: Histoire de l'Academie Royale des Sciences... (164pp) followed by Memoires de Mathematique et de Physique tirez des registres de l'Academie Royale des Sciences...(197pp and 5 folding plates) in volume 1; volume II is Suite des Memoires de Mathematique et de Phyqiue tirez des registres de l'Academie Royale des Sciences (pp 201-605 and 17 folding plates).

Very Good condition—lovely copies, really. $500/two volumes.

Many interesting articles, reprinted here in 1732, and including such contributions as:

“Sur le Mouvement de Saturne”, pp 94-100;

“Sur la Foce des Corps des mouvement”, pp 100-134;

C.E.L. Camus, “Du Mouvement Accelere par des Ressorts et des Forces qui resident dans les Corps en Mouvement”, pp 230-283 (A significant paper, especially influential to Lagrange—see Isaac Todhunter, “A History of the Theory of Elasticity and of the Strength of Materials”.)

Jean-Jacques d'Ortous de Mairan (1678 – 1771, French geophysicist, astronomer and most notably, chronobiologist), “Dissertation sur l'Estimation et la mesure des forces motrices des corps”, pp 17-81.

Giovanni Cassini (d. 1712, first observation of the moons of Saturn), “Du Mouvement de Saturne”, pp 95-124;

Jean-Jacques Dortous de Mairan (1678-1771,”was a mathematician and an enthusiastic experimenter whose major works were on the formation of ice and on the aurora borealis. However, he was also interested in all the important topics addressed the scientific community in the eighteenth century, among them, the shape of Earth, light, colors, sound, the composition of matter, and vis viva (the debate around the force of moving bodies and the conservation of matter).”--DSB . “Eclaireissement sur le Memoire de la Cause generale du Froid en Hiver at de la Chaleur en Ete, pp 10-23.

René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur  (1683-1757, French entomologist and writer who contributed to many different fields, especially the study of insects), “Histoire des Teignes, ou des Insects qui Ronguet les Laines et les Pelleteries”, premiere part, pp 201-282 and parte seconde pp 439-476.

Abbe de Molieres, “Loix Genrales du Mouvement dans le Tourbillon Spherique”, pp 349-380;

Petit, “Observation sur la Rupture Incomplette du Tendon d'Achille”, pp 331-380;

Geoffroy le Cadet. “Suite d' Observations fur les Huiles ejfentielles , leur altération & la manière de reâifer celles de certains fruits , avec un examen  des changemens i]ui arrivent à l'Huile d'Anis.”M. 

De Maupertuis, “Sur toutes les Développées qu'mie Courbe peut avoir à l'Infini”;

Du Hamel, “Recherches sur les causes de la multiplication des Especes de Fruits”, 477-499;

Du Fay, “ “Observations sur qualques Experiences de l'Aimant”, pp 500-520;

Pitot, “Remarque sur les Rapports des surfaces des grands et des petits corps”, pp 521-530

Bourdelin, “Memoire sur la Formation des sels Lixiviels”, pp 541-567;