Cohen-de Ricci, 753 ; Wheeler GIft, 319 (other edition) ; Wheatland, 173 (other edition) ; Guigard, II, p. 108 ; David DiLaura, 378 ; Jean Torlais, Un physicien au si\u00e8cle des Lumi\u00e8res, l’abb\u00e9 Nollet : 1700-1770, Paris, 1987 ; Dictionary of Scientific Biography, X, 147-148 ; Catalogue de l’exposition Lumi\u00e8res ! Un h\u00e9ritage pour demain, Paris, BnF, 2006, p. 3.<\/i><\/p>\n
Magnificent complete set of Nollet\u2019s Opus Magnus, bound in green Morocco with the arms of Count Calenberg with all the plates in brilliant contemporary colouring.<\/span><\/p>\n Although uniformly bound, this set is composed – like many others – of different editions : first edition for volume VI, fifth edition for volumes I to II, fourth edition for volume III, third edition for IV, and second edition for volume V.<\/p>\n The scientific discoveries of the mid-eighteenth century gave rise to public lectures, which quickly became a social and social phenomenon. The frontispiece to the Le\u00e7ons de physique exp\u00e9rimentale<\/i>, which depicts Abb\u00e9 Nollet performing an experiment in front of a select audience, is one of the first iconographic documents to bear witness to this craze.<\/p>\n \u201cWith carefully orchestrated demonstrations performed on 350 different instruments, the abb\u00e9 entertained his enthusiastic auditors as, in the spirit of the Enlightenment, he undertook to dispel their \u2018vulgar errors, extravagant fears and faith in the marvelous’. These were not mere shows, as one sees from their expanded syllabus, the famous Le\u00e7ons de physique\u201d (Dictionary of Scientific Biography, p. 145).<\/p>\n Abb\u00e9 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 a great distance, he carried out a rather unusual experiment. In the presence of the king, he had 180 royal guards linked by a cable to form a line over a kilometre long, then applied a discharge using a Leyden bottle, the forerunner of the capacitor.<\/p>\n “Nollet was the leading experimental physicist for thirty years in mid-eighteenth-century France. His course of lectures, aimed at the upper-class Parisian society, was accompanied by elaborate, if not spectacular, demonstrations of physical principles and the use of experimental apparatus. This was the source for Le\u00e7ons de Physique<\/i>, which became as famous as he course itself and was the first step in establishing experimental physics in France. Nollet’s work expressed in the Le\u00e7ons de Physique<\/i> led to a reorientation of physics teaching in French universities and was the model for a new generation of French physics textbooks, replacing those of Polini\u00e8re and Rohault” (DiLaura).<\/p>\n “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 was curious about everything new, convinced that his emancipation and mastery of his destiny depended on knowledge of the world. So knowledge had to be made available to everyone. This was the great project of the Encyclop\u00e9die<\/i>” (see : Lumi\u00e8res ! Un h\u00e9ritage pour demain, p. 3). Abb\u00e9 Nollet is quoted throughout the “Electricity” article in the Encyclop\u00e9die<\/i> (Volume V), particularly in relation to the medical uses that can be made of this new fluid.<\/p>\n A magnificent copy, complete with frontispiece and 116 folding plates; all the engravings were coloured at the time.<\/p>\n Provenance: Count Henri Reinecke Calenberg (1685-1772 ; his coat of arms on the binding). Henri Reinecke, Count Calenberg was a great bibliophile and had his book bound in precious morocco bindings of all color as explains Guigard. His collection assembled during his stay in Bruxelles, was sold by J. Ermens in 1773 (2048 lots of books, 72 lots of paintings and engravings) – Alain Moatti (bookplate).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 6 volumes, 12mo (170 x 97mm). Volume I : engraved and coloured frontispiece, title, CVIII, 379 pp., 19 engraved and coloured folding plates. Volume II : IV pp., 488 pp., 2 nn.ll., 20 engraved and coloured folding plates. Volume III : IV, 514 pp., 19 engraved and coloured folding plates. Volume IV : 2 nn.ll., 535 pp., 14 engraved and coloured folding plates. Volume V : VI pp., 1 nn.l., 592 pp., 24 engraved and coloured folding plates. Volume VI : IV, 527 pp., 20 engraved and coloured folding plates. Contemporary green morocco, triple gilt filet on covers, central coat of arms of Count Calenberg (Guigard, II, 108), spine gilt with raised bands, red morocco lettering and numbering pieces, gilt edges (expert restorations to ends of spine).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":78300,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[550],"product_tag":[1267,1337,1339],"class_list":{"0":"post-78311","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-science","7":"product_tag-binding","8":"product_tag-entertaining-physics","9":"product_tag-general-physics","10":"pa_auteur-nollet-jean-antoine-abbe-2","11":"pa_type-de-livre-printed-book","13":"first","14":"instock","15":"shipping-taxable","16":"purchasable","17":"product-type-simple"},"acf":{"artist":"Jean-Antoine, abb\u00e9 NOLLET","chapeau":"Bound in contemporary olive green morocco for Count Calenberg\r\n with the plates in contemporary colouring","adresse_bibliographique":"Paris, Hippolyte-Louis Gu\u00e9rin, 1757-1764","book_type":"Printed book","provenance":"","afficher_prix":""},"yoast_head":"\n