Hooke, Robert | Micrographia; or, Some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies

Hooke, Robert

 Micrographia; or, Some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies. London: Printed by Jo. Martyn and Ja. Allestry, 1665

Folio (286 x 184 mm). Title-page printed in red and black (reinforced along gutter), imprimatur leaf (outer margin extended, possibly supplied), 38 engraved plates (32 folding) after Hooke, with the possible assistance of Sir Christopher Wren, woodcut headpiece and initials; plates with several repaired tears, guards renewed. Contemporary vellum; rebacked.

“Some think that Hooke was perhaps the greatest mechanical genius science has ever had” (PMM).

First edition, first issue (title date 1665) of Hooke's seminal work, which contains fifty-seven microscopic and three telescopic observations, including the first description and illustrations of the cellular structure of living tissue. The work was commissioned by the Royal Society in 1665 and represented many of Hooke's original scientific observations and experiments for the Society. Employing a compound microscope of his own invention, Hooke accurately described for the first time fossils, feathers, flies, fleas, sponges, molds, and other objects. His description of the feeding habits of the louse was based on a careful examination of how a specimen sucked blood from his own arm.

REFERENCES

Dibner, Heralds 87; Garrison-Morton 262; Grolier/Horblit 50; Heirs of Hippocrates 599; Keynes Hooke 6; Printnig and the Mind of Man 147; Waller 10845; Wellcome 3:296; Wing H-2620

PROVENANCE

Francis Hutcheson, the younger (fl. 1745-73; bookplate), Glasgow physician who composed prize-winning songs and published a number of philosophical manuscripts left by his father. The occasional marginal annotations may be his. — Progel (bookplate)