Hooke, Robert | Micrographia: or some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses

Hooke, Robert

Micrographia: or some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses. London: James Allestry for the Royal Society, 1667

Folio (197 x 192 mm). Title with engraved arms of the Royal Society, 38 engraved plates (14 folding, plates 16 and 24 bound out of sequence); plate 28 with fore-margin reinforced on verso, plate 30 with some marginal wear and soling partly reinforced on verso, plates 33 and 35 with repaired tears crossing image. Contemporary English paneled calf; rebacked preserving original spine, a few stains.

First edition, second issue of "The most influential work in the history of microscopy, containing the discovieres made with Hooke's newly perfected compound microscope," with the title dated 1667 instead of 1665. “Micrographia was not only the first book devoted entirely to microscopical observations, but also the first to pair its descriptions with profuse and detailed illustrations, and this graphic portrayal of a hitherto unseen world had an impact rivaling that of Galilieo's Sidereus nuncius ... his famous and dramatic portraits of the flea and louse, a frightening eighteen inches long, are hardly less startling today than they must have been to Hooke's contemporaries" (Norman).

REFERENCES

Dibner Heralds of Science 187; Garrison-Morton-Norman 262; Heirs of Hippocrates 599; Horblit Science 50; Norman 1092; PMM 147