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~Original tree calf to boards, gilt rolls forming borders to boards. Gilt decor to board edges and turn-ins. Rebacked in near-matching dark brown calf with original backstrip (worn) laid down. Remains of ornate gilt decor and chipped red gilt label to original backstrip. Folio (22.2 x 28.1cm). Replacement headbands. Hinges sound. Original marbled endpapers, restored at gutters. Red gilt leather bookplate of 'W. Clayton' to inside front board. Moderate scattered foxing throughout. Some water marks, most evident to pp. 201-225, with moderate impact on plates (notably XV & XIV-XVI) and substantial impact on pl. XXII & XXIII: in both cases the illus itself is mildly affected but with substantial watermark to top & bottom margins. Supplement at rear of volume has separate pagination but continuous register. 4pp. index to Lectures. 23 plates to Lectures; 13 plates to Supplement, all folding, as called for. All plates engraved by J. Mynde (James Mynde, 1702-1771, who owned a large London studio and became engraver to the Royal Society) after drawings by James Ferguson. Ferguson (1710-1776), Scottish lecturer on natural philosophy, inventor of scientific instruments, and astronomer. The son of a farmworker and almost entirely self-educated, Ferguson became fascinated with mechanics as a child when he observed his father using a lever to raise the dilapidated roof of their cottage; his fascination with astronomy was established during night watches as a shepherd. Having set off to London in 1743 to seek his fortune, Ferguson rose to become wealthy, eminent, internationally respected as a natural philosopher and inventor, and an FRS. Before establishing himself as a lecturer and maker of scientific instruments, Ferguson supported himself as a painter of miniature portraits, and his 'remarkable skills as a draughtsman' are displayed in this volume, one of numerous published works, all of which were distinguished by their clarity and emphasis on rendering the 'apparently complex' intelligible to a wide audience (ODNB). Ferguson's seminal 1756 work on astronomy was a direct influence on William Herschel, and he remained a key figure of the British enlightenment, especially significant as a populariser and communicator of scientific ideas: he was among the most successful lecturers and demonstrators of the age (Paine in 'The Age of Reason' recalls his first steps in developing his scientific knowledge as a young man being the purchase of 'a pair of globes' and attending Ferguson's lectures). This collection of his lectures, first published in 1760 at the height of Ferguson's career and much reprinted (1764, 1770, 1772), gives a vivid sense of how he was able to capture the popular imagination and 'render everything as plain and intelligible as I thought the subject would admit of' (p. vii). ESTC N1986. A handsome volume in original striking tree calf boards. ~Robust packaging. Overseas orders trackable on request. Size: viii, 252, (4), 40pp. Seller Inventory # LL8924
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Bibliographic Details
Title: Lectures on Select Subjects in Mechanics, ...
Publisher: W. Strahan, J. & F. Rivington, et al, London
Publication Date: 1773
Binding: Hardback
Condition: Very Good
Edition: 5th Edn.
Book Type: Binding sound, text unmarked
