Maxwell, James Clerk | A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism, first edition

Maxwell, James Clerk

A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1873

2 volumes, 8vo (224 x 140 mm). Half-titles, 21 lithographic plates, in-text illustrations, errata slip tipped in to volume 1, volume 2 with 15 page publisher’s catalogue at rear unopened and listing the present volume on p. 10 as “just published”; a few leaves toned, some stray stains, a few instances of faint offsetting. Original maroon cloth, spines gilt-lettered, “Clarendon Press Series” publisher’s device to covers in blind, coated endpapers; spines sunned with head and foot frayed, extremities rubbed, top edge dust-soiled, margins slightly frayed, upper joint of volume 1 cracked but cloth holding, staining and soiling to covers.

First edition of Maxwell’s most important text.

Maxwell’s Treatise put forth his foundational electromagnetic theory of light, which paved the way for countless future discoveries in the field of physics. It particularly influenced Einstein’s theory of relativity—Einstein himself wrote in 1931 that Maxwell’s “change in the conception of reality is the most profound and the most fruitful that physics has experienced since Newton” (Einstein).

Maxwell “began the investigation of moving frames of reference, which in Einstein's hands were to revolutionize physics; gave proofs of the existence of electromagnetic waves that paved the way for Hertz's discovery of radio waves; worked out connections between the electrical and optical qualities of bodies that would lead to modern solid-state physics; and applied Tait's quaternion formulae to the field equations, out of which Heaviside and Gibbs would develop vector analysis" (Norman).

REFERENCES

Einstein, “Maxwell’s Influence on the Development of the Conception of Physical Reality,” 1931; Norman 1466