Abbé Nollet - L'Art des Expériences, ou, Avis aux Amateurs de la Physique... [56 planches] - 1770

Original edition of this important work by Jean Antoine Nollet (1700-1770), illustrated with 56 folding plates of scientific instruments.

Complete in three volumes, well-bound in period full marbled calf, with spines decorated with panels and gilt tools, with title and volume labels, and red edges. A fine copy, well-preserved overall. The leather is slightly rubbed; minor loss on the front cover of volume I, a small crack starting at the hinge of volume II, and a slightly damaged corner on volume III. Interior in very good condition, fresh and clean, with few foxing spots and excellent impression of the engravings.
Collated and complete

An important supplement to 'Leçons de physique expérimentale.' The work, published in the year of Abbé Nollet's death, details the construction of numerous instruments made of wood, metal, and glass for conducting physics experiments—particularly in electricity—and chemistry, demonstrating a public interest in science and its advancements during the second half of the eighteenth century.

Also, Nollet aimed in this new work not only to provide a detailed theory of the instruments and their uses but also to indicate how to construct them, how to choose the most suitable materials for their construction, and finally how to prepare all the parts involved, so as to obtain the most precise and satisfactory results in the simplest way.

Jean Antoine Nollet, best known as Abbé Nollet, born in Pimprez on December 19, 1700, and died in Paris on April 24, 1770, was a French physicist. He was associated with the works of Du Fay and Réaumur.
Nollet greatly contributed to spreading the taste and study of physics in France through clear and attractive exhibitions. He mainly focused on electricity: he designed the first electroscopes, introduced the Leyde bottle to France, creating a 'dry' version, and anticipated the action of electricity in St. Elmo's fire and lightning.

Abbot Nollet
The Art of Experiments, or, Notice to Physics Enthusiasts, on the Choice, Construction, and Use of Instruments [...]
At P.E.G. Durand's in Paris 1770
3 volumes, in-12 - 9 x 16 cm -, 1: xxiv-509-(1) pages and 13 plates outside the text / volume 2: (4)-552 pages and 23 plates outside the text / volume 3: (2)-524-(4)-10 pages and 20 plates outside the text.