REY, Jean (c.1583-c.1645). Essays de Iean Rey sur la recherche de la cause pour laquelle l’estain et le plomb augmentent de poids quand on les calcine. Paris: Ruault, 1777.

Second edition of Rey's precocious work on the weight of air. The first edition, printed in 1630, is known in only a few copies. This was the first work to identify the role of air in the increase of weight of metals in calcination, anticipating Lavoisier by over a century. "In 1775 Pierre Bayen drew attention to the Essays, and Lavoisier initially believed the work to be a forgery. Later, however, he spoke of it with admiration" (DSB). The publication of the present edition was the result of this rediscovery, and Rey's original text has been enlarged by the addition of texts by Mersenne and Chérubin d'Orléans. Duveen p. 505; Hoover 683.

Octavo (198 x 122mm). Printed on blue paper. Half title, 2 engraved plates in text (a little toning at end). Contemporary French mottled calf, edges marbled (edges showing, hinges cracked). Provenance: "Pres. de M. Almquist Chr[istians]borg" (inscription on front endpaper) – stamp of a Swedish gymnasium library on flyleaf.