NOLLET, Jean-Antoine, dit l'abbé - Lot 69

NOLLET, Jean-Antoine, dit l'abbé Leçons de physique expérimentale Paris, Hippolyte-Louis Guérin, 1759 SCIENCE IN COLOR DURING THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT. A REMARKABLE COPY WITH NUMEROUS PLATES, ALL IN BRILLIANT PERIOD COLORS. BONDED IN MAROQUIN WITH THE ARMS OF THE COUNT OF CALENBERG 6 volumes in-12 (169 x 99mm). Engraved fleurons and headbands COLLATION : t.1 : cviii pp., 379 pp. ; t.2 : iv pp., 488 pp., 2 ff. n. ch. ; t.3 : iv pp., 514 pp. ; t.4 : 2 ff. n. ch., 535 pp. ; t.5 :vi pp., 1 f. n. ch., 592 pp. ; t.6 : iv pp., 527 pp. ILLUSTRATION : a frontispiece after Moreau and 116 folding etchings in contemporary colors, after Moreau, Brunet and others. CONTEMPORARY BINDINGS. Green morocco, gilded coat of arms in the center of the boards, gilded fillets framing the boards, ornate ribbed spine, gilded edges. PROVENANCE : Count Henri Reinecke de Calenberg (1685-1772; arms). Henri Reinecke, Count of Calenberg had this copy bound with his coat of arms. He was Chamberlain to the Emperor, General Master of Camp, Lord of the Chamber of the Elector of Saxony and Provost of the Chapter of Misnie (Saxony). A refined and demanding bibliophile, he owned a splendid library that he had built up while living in Brussels, most of whose volumes were bound in his coat of arms, in morocco of various colors: "red, yellow, violet, blue, green, lemon and other precious ligatures...". (cf. Guigard, II, 108, citing the sale catalog). The Count of Calenberg's collection was dispersed in Brussels by J. Ermens in 1773 (2048 lots for books, 72 lots for paintings and prints). Minor restoration of headpieces. Although uniformly bound, the six volumes are, as is often the case, from different editions: the fifth for volumes I to II, the fourth for volume III, the third for volume IV, the second for volume V; volume VI is a first edition. The scientific discoveries of the mid-18th century gave rise to public lectures, which soon became a social and worldly phenomenon. The frontispiece to Leçons de physique expérimentale, depicting Abbé Nollet performing an experiment in the midst of a select audience, is one of the earliest iconographic documents to testify to this craze. Alain Moatti owned one of his famous microscopes, a veritable sculpture in bronze and glass. "With carefully orchestrated demonstrations performed on 350 different instruments, the abbé entertained his enthusiastic auditors as, in the spirit of the Enlightenment, he undertook to dispel their 'vulgar errors, extravagant fears and faith in the marvelous'. These were not mere shows, as one sees from their expanded syllabus, the famous Leçons de physique" (Dictionary of Scientific Biography, p. 145). Abbé Nollet (1700-1770) discovered the diffusion of liquids, observed the transmission of sound in liquids, described a machine for cutting spectacle lenses (1752) and invented the first electroscope (1747). To demonstrate that electricity travels at high speed over long distances, he conducted a rather unusual experiment. In the presence of the king, he connected 180 royal guards in a line more than a kilometer long, then applied a discharge using a Leyden bottle - the forerunner of the capacitor. "Experiments on electricity, following the work of a Watson, a Nollet or a Franklin, were reproduced in front of an enthusiastic audience. The man of the Enlightenment is curious about everything new, convinced that his emancipation and mastery of his destiny depend on knowledge of the world. Knowledge must therefore be made available to all. This is the great project of the Encyclopédie. (Lumières! Un héritage pour demain, p. 3). Abbé Nollet is quoted throughout the Encyclopédie's "Electricity" article (Volume V), particularly in relation to the medical uses that can be made of this new fluid. BIBLIOGRAPHY : Cohen-de Ricci, 753 -- Guigard, II, p. 108 -- Jean Torlais, Un physicien au siècle des Lumières, l'abbé Nollet : 1700-1770, Paris, 1987 -- Dictionary of Scientific Biography, X, 147-148 -- Catalogue de l'exposition Lumières ! Un héritage pour demain, Paris, BnF, 2006, p. 3 CATALOGUE CORRECTION: One of the plates torn at the fold.