LEEUWENHOEK, Anton van (1632-1723). Ondervingen en beschouwingen der onsigtbare geschapene waarheden, vervat in verscheydene Brieven, geschreven aan de... Koninklijke Societeit in Engeland. Leiden: Daniel van Gaesbeeck, 1684. Bound with 9 others,...
LEEUWENHOEK, Anton van (1632-1723). Ondervingen en beschouwingen der onsigtbare geschapene waarheden, vervat in verscheydene Brieven, geschreven aan de... Koninklijke Societeit in Engeland. Leiden: Daniel van Gaesbeeck, 1684. Bound with 9 others, 1684-1688.
A sammelband of Leeuwenhoek’s scientific writings, comprising letters 28-52 and 65. A draper by profession, Leeuwenhoek’s experiments in lens-making—originally undertaken in order to better see thread quality—made him into “one of the most remarkable microscopists of all time” (PMM). “A consummately acute observer ... for fifty years he patiently and painstakingly documented the hidden realms of nature in a way no one had done before him" (Grolier). Leeuwenhoek produced a total of about 550 lenses during his lifetime, perfecting the microscope sufficiently to enable him to make unprecedented observations of sub-visible life. Letter 39 here contains his famous description and illustration of bacteria scraped from his own teeth. Leeuwenhoek's scientific work was communicated mainly in a series of letters to the Royal Society in London; 165 were published, in two chronological sequences, numbered 28-146 and I-XLIV (letters 1-27 were not published separately, although abstracts appeared in the Philosophical Transactions). Dobell 1-9, 11; Norman 1301, 1303, 1305-6, 1308-10; Wellcome III, p. 476; cf. Grolier, Medicine, 37; cf. PMM 166.
Ten works bound in one, quarto (195 x 155mm). Engraved title; 7 engraved plates, 5 of which folding; numerous engraved illustrations, woodcut title vignettes (faint dampstain to upper margin, a few bifolia sprung, some light browning). Contemporary vellum (some minor staining).
Pre-Lot Text
PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR
View it on
Sale price
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
LEEUWENHOEK, Anton van (1632-1723). Ondervingen en beschouwingen der onsigtbare geschapene waarheden, vervat in verscheydene Brieven, geschreven aan de... Koninklijke Societeit in Engeland. Leiden: Daniel van Gaesbeeck, 1684. Bound with 9 others, 1684-1688.
A sammelband of Leeuwenhoek’s scientific writings, comprising letters 28-52 and 65. A draper by profession, Leeuwenhoek’s experiments in lens-making—originally undertaken in order to better see thread quality—made him into “one of the most remarkable microscopists of all time” (PMM). “A consummately acute observer ... for fifty years he patiently and painstakingly documented the hidden realms of nature in a way no one had done before him" (Grolier). Leeuwenhoek produced a total of about 550 lenses during his lifetime, perfecting the microscope sufficiently to enable him to make unprecedented observations of sub-visible life. Letter 39 here contains his famous description and illustration of bacteria scraped from his own teeth. Leeuwenhoek's scientific work was communicated mainly in a series of letters to the Royal Society in London; 165 were published, in two chronological sequences, numbered 28-146 and I-XLIV (letters 1-27 were not published separately, although abstracts appeared in the Philosophical Transactions). Dobell 1-9, 11; Norman 1301, 1303, 1305-6, 1308-10; Wellcome III, p. 476; cf. Grolier, Medicine, 37; cf. PMM 166.
Ten works bound in one, quarto (195 x 155mm). Engraved title; 7 engraved plates, 5 of which folding; numerous engraved illustrations, woodcut title vignettes (faint dampstain to upper margin, a few bifolia sprung, some light browning). Contemporary vellum (some minor staining).
Pre-Lot Text
PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR
Sale price
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
