The Mathematical and Philosophical Works of the Right Rev. JOHN WILKINS, late Lord Bishop of Chester. To which is Prefixed The Author's Life, and an Account of His Works.

pp. xiv, (iv), 261, (i) blank; xvi, 260. Text figures in each volume. Modern library cloth with the device of the Royal Society of London on the spine and their neat stamp at the foot of each title-page, scattered, mostly marginal foxing, book-plates of THOMAS BLADEN CAPEL, good copies. *This set comprises 5 of Wilkins's works : 1. The Discovery of a New World; or, a Discourse tending to prove, that it is probable there may be another habitable World in the Moon, With a Discourse on the Possibility of a Passage thither; 2. That it is probable our Earth is one of the Planets; 3. Mercury: or the Secret and Swift Messenger. Shewing how a Man may with Privacy and Speed communicate his Thoughts to a Friend at any Distance; 4. Mathematical Magic: or the Wonders that may be performed by Mechanical Geometry; 5. An Abstract of his Essay towards a Real Character, and a Philosophical Language. These are Wilkins's most speculative works, well ahead of his time. In the first, originally published in 1638, he considers the possibility of journeying to the Moon - 'what means there may be conjectured, for our ascending beyond the sphere of earth's machanical vigour. I do seriously, and upon good grounds affirm it is possible to make a flying - chariot ; in which a man may sit, and give such a motion unto it, and shall convey him through the air. This engine may be contrived form the same principles by which Archytas made a wooden dove, and Rogiomontanus a wooden eagle. It is likely enough, that there may be a means invented of journeying to the moon ; and how happy shall they be, that are successful in their first attempt.' He also considered the possibility, in PROP.XIII, 'That it is probable there may be inhabitants in this other world; but of what kind they are, is uncertain.' The third work here given, Mercury., was an early account of cryptography, and work 5, on a Philosophical Language, proposed the creation of a universal language, to replace Latin, and an integrated system of measurement, similar to the metric system. Appropriately, considering the provenance of this set, he was one of the founders of the Royal Society and was especially concerned that it should be based upon non-partisan lines. Admiral Sir Thomas Bladen Capel GCB (25 August 1776 4 March 1853) was an officer in the British Royal Navy whose distinguished service in the French Revolutionary War, the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812 earned him rapid promotion and great acclaim both in and out of the Navy. He was also a great friend of Admiral Nelson and can be considered a full member of Nelson's "band of brothers".…