GILBERT, William (1544-1603). De magnete, magneticisque corporibus, et de mango magnete tellure; Physiologia nova, plurimus & aegumentis, & experimentis demonstrata. London: Peter Short, 1600.

Signet Library copy of the first edition of "the first major English scientific treatise based on experimental methods of research. Gilbert was chiefly concerned with magnetism; but as a digression he discusses in his second book the attractive effect of amber (electrum), and thus may be regarded as the founder of electrical science. He coined the terms 'electricity,' 'electric force' and 'electric attraction'" (PMM). In Book One Gilbert "introduced his new basic idea ... that the earth is a gigantic lodestone and thus has magnetic properties" while in Book Two, his observations on the amber effect "introduced the vocabulary of electrics, and is the basis for Gilbert's place in the history of electricity" (DSB). Dibner Heralds of Science 54; Grolier/Horblit 41; Heilbron, pp. 169-179; Norman 905; PMM 107; STC 11883; Wellcome 2830.

Folio (282 x 184mm). Woodcut device (McKerrow 119) on title, large woodcut arms on verso, numerous text woodcuts, some full-page, large folding woodcut diagram, historiated woodcut capitals, head- and tail-pieces. (Some occasional pale staining including to title and to folding diagram.) 18th-century calf, arms of the Signet Library on covers (rebacked with endpapers renewed, upper joint well-started, edges worn).

Signet Library (binding; their sale Sotheby's, 11 April 1960, lot 1189)
"Property of a Massachusetts Collector" (Christie's New York, 14 December 2014, lot 221)
Acquired at that auction by the present owner