Lavoisier, Antoine Laurent | Rare pamphlet with an article on Lavoisier’s 1772 experiments on the combustibility of diamonds

Lavoisier, Antoine Laurent and others

Expériences sur le diamant. N.p., n.d. [1772]

8vo (175 x 110 mm, uncut). Uniform light toning, a few bookseller annotations in pencil to covers. Sewn, as issued. Blue calf slipcase, spine gilt. Blue cloth folding portfolio.

A rare offprint describing Lavoisier’s 1772 experiments on the combustibility of diamonds. “The effect of heat on the diamond was not a new problem; it was known that, when strongly heated in the air, a diamond would disappear. Lavoisier showed that, if tightly packed in charcoal, so as to exclude the air, and strongly heated, a diamond would not only fail to vanish but would even come through the ordeal with its polish almost unaffected” (Grolier, Catalogue of Printed Works… Lavoisier, 1952, p. 25). Lavoisier's research on diamonds led him to explore the combustion of similar materials such as phosphorus and sulfur. 

The pamphlet contains the following four papers: "Experiences et observations chymiques sur le diamant," by Cadett.—"Resultat de quelques experiences faites sur le diamant" by Macquer, Cadet, and Lavoisier.—"Second memoire de M. Lavoisier sur les experiences du diamant"—"Extrait de deux memoires sur les diamans & autres pierres precieuses, lus a l'Academie royale des sciences les 2 & 7 mai 1772," by Mittouart. 

“The combination of the four papers is historically very interesting. It shows how Lavoisier first collaborated with his colleagues by attacking the same problems which also interested them at that time, and how he soon surpassed them by freeing himself from the traditional concepts and by arriving at his new and correct conclusions through a systematic evaluation of the experimental facts” (Duveen & Kilickstein, p. 219; as quoted in Cole, Chemical Literature, 1700-1860, 895.)

Rare—we locate three copies outside of France, all in the United States (Hagley Museum and Library; Cornell; University of Wisconsin-Madison), and only two copies that have appeared at auction (this one and another), none in the last 20 years.

REFERENCES

Cole 895

PROVENANCE

Joseph A. Freilich (bookplate inside folding portfolio; Sotheby’s New York, 10 January 2001, lot 336)