First Modern Chemical Dictionary

MACQUER, Pierre Joseph.

Dictionnaire de Chymie, contenant la Théorie & la Pratique de cette Science, son Application à la Physique, à l'Histoire naturelle, à la Médecine & à l'Economie animale; avec l'Explication détaillée de la Vertu & de la Maniere d'agir des Médicamens chymiques. Et les Principes fondamentaux des Arts, Manufactures & Métiers dépendans de la Chymie.

xxiv, 616 pp.; 1 p.l., [3]-688 pp. Two vols. Small 8vo, cont. mottled sheep (head of spine of Vol. II chipped), spines gilt, red morocco lettering pieces on spines. Paris: Lacombe, 1766.

Second (first pirated) edition of the first modern chemical dictionary. Although technical dictionaries had appeared earlier, this was the first attempt to cover the whole field of chemistry, pure and applied, in an encyclopedic manner. The introduction traces the progress of chemistry from its origins to the time of Stahl and Boerhaave. The book was an immediate success and it was several times reprinted and translated; it produced many imitators. There are substantial entries for glass and wine.

Good set. This rare pirated edition appeared in the same year as the first.

❧ Cole 864. D.S.B., VIII, pp. 618–24. Neville pp. 112–113. Partington III, pp. 80–90.

Price: $1,350.00

Item ID: 3252