Gueffier

Paris, Gueffier, 1769-1770. Four octavo volumes.

First edition of this major eighteenth-century classic of scientific recreations, illustrated with 72 folding plates, 68 of them finely coloured by hand at the time of publication, together with a folding table. Four further plates listing the prices of recreational apparatus sold by Guyot accompany the first three volumes. The first two volumes appeared in 1769 and the remaining two in 1770.

Contemporary full polished tan calf, smooth spines elegantly decorated with gilt floral tools and fillets, red morocco lettering-pieces...

Second edition, after the first published in 1779, expanded by Rouland, and illustrated with 8 folding plates at the end, compared to 5 for the first edition.

Contemporary full marbled calf binding. Ornate spine with raised bands. Red morocco title label. Two corners bumped. Rubbing. One loss at head. Light foxing on the first leaves. Good copy.

Awakened to experimental physics as a student of Abbé Nollet, Sigaud de la Fond assisted the chemist Macquer in his experiments on gases and notably hydrogen, verifying that its combustion produced water. He relates in this work his experiments on different types of air, and summarizes the work of foreign...

First edition, rare.

Contemporary full blond calf bindings, mottled. Smooth spines decorated with urn tools and fillets. Red morocco lettering-pieces and green morocco volume labels, the latter additionally bearing the letters AB, NZ... Rich border of palmettes and frieze on the covers, with on the upper cover: Prix des Ecoles Académiques; and on the lower cover: Lille 1812. Rubbing. Some corners bumped. A handsome and highly decorative set.