2 first editions on the use of microscopes.

Description: 1. Adams, George - Essays on the microscope; containing a practical description of the most improved microscopes: a general history of insects, their transformations, peculiar habits and oeconomy: An account of the various species and singular properties of the Hydrae and Vorticellae: A description of three hundred and seventy-nine animalcula, with a concise catalogue of interesting objects: A view of the organization of timber and the configuration of salts when under the microscope. London, printed for the author by Robert Hindmarsh, 1787. 4to: xxiii, [1]-724 pp. (pencil notes, brown spots). Contemp. half leather, paper covers (light tr. of wear). 1st ed. by G. Adams (1750-1795), mathematical instrument maker to George III of England, as were his father and brother before and after him. The Adams family firm was one of the most prominent of those at work in London in the 18th c. Engr. ill.: mezzotint allegorical front. after T.S. Duché. - 2. Baker, Henry - Employement for the microscope. In two parts. London, R. Dudsley, 1753. 4to: xiv-442-[10] pp. (pl. 15: sm. tear). Contemp. full calf (tr. of wear). 1st ed. of this successful work by the British naturalist Henry Baker (1698-1774), in which he noted down the presence of dinoflagellates for the first time as "Animalcules which cause the Sparkling Light in Sea Water". Engr. ill.: 15 pl. Although the title mentions the presence of 17 copper pl., this copy has only 15 pl. (pl. 5 & 6 are missing, pl. 16 is not numbered). However a note to the reader (p. 422) explains that "the last plate was not yet finished till the whole book was nearly printed off".