Mémoire Présenté à l'Académie royale des Sciences, le 2 octobre 1820, où se trouve compris le résumé de ce qui avait été lu à la même Académie les 18 et 25 septembre 1820, sur les effects des courans électriques. [Original journal appearance of the separately issued and updated "Memoires sur l'Action Mutuelle de Deux Courans Electriques"]

Paris: Chez Crochard, 1820. First Edition. Boards. Very Good. First Edition. 448 pages plus 5 plates (1 folding). 8vo. Contemporary quarter calf over marbled boards with black spine labels. Early label (Coquard a Epinal) on front pastedown. The entire volume of "Annales de Chimie et de Physique", Vol. Quinzieme [XV 15] offered. Surface wear/damage to the leather finish (resulting in minor loss to gilding and top label) and minor fraying to the head/tail spine panel. Small spot of worming inside lower rear board at the gutter. Text generally bright and clean.

This volume contains the original journal appearance of the separately issued "Memoires sur l'Action Mutuelle de Deux Courans Electriques" in three sections over two articles (pp. 59-76 & 170-218). Section 1: "De l'Action mutuelle de deux courans electriques" (pages 59-76) continued as "Suite Du Memoire sur l'Action mutuelle entre deux courans electriques, entre un courant electrque et un aimant ou le globe terrestre, et entre deux aimans" on (pages 170-188). Section 2: "Direction des courans electriques par l'action du globe terrestre" on pages 188-196. Section 3: "De l'Action mutuelle entre un conducteur electrique et un aimant" (pages 196-218). Plus plate number 4 in the rear which illustrates the articles. Boards. Ampere is today celebrated for his fundamental work in the new field of electrodynamics. The three part paper [offered here] established "the relationship between electric current-flow and magnetism, [and] established the new science of electrodynamics." (Norman)

"In a four page circular, dated Copenhagen, July 21st, 1820, H.C. Orsted communicated his great discovery that a closed voltaic circuit exerts forces on an adjacent magnetic needle. In more modern language: a current-carrying electric circuit gives rise to magnetic forces in its surroundings. Orsted had found the long sought affinity between electricity and magnetism. The letter reached Arago ... [who] at the [next] meeting of Academie des Sciences on Sept. 11th, 1820, with Ampere [in attendance, presented] the letter and Orsted's experiment. It was indeed a memorable meeting. Already at the next weekly meeting, on Sept. 18th, Ampere delivered an explanation of Orsted's experiment and supported it with new experiments of his own. At every weekly meeting in the following months, Ampere produced new results." (Ekelof)

'In this first paper, Sept. 18, he explains the law determining the position of the magnetic needle in relation to the electric current, and he also makes known his intended experiments with spiral of helical wires, which he predicts will acquire and retain the properties of magnets so long as the electrical current flows through them He constructed his spirals and helices, and to the astonishment of all, he produced magnets formed only of spools of copper wire traversed by electric currents...' (Mottelay)

The Honeyman sale, #82, notes that the paper offered here is "The first appearance of the first of a series of important papers reporting Ampere's discoveries on the electric current." Honeyman also had (#83) the first separate appearance of these journal articles published as "Memoires sur l'Action mutuelle de deux courans electriques..." which we believe had additional information not present in this journal appearance (and hence is not a traditional "offprint" but a later state of the work). Norman notes that Ampere developed the science of electrodynamics over the next seven years publishing in a "bewildering array of journal articles, offprints and revisions of earlier works...[further noting] some 'reprints' of Ampere's articles appear in as many as five different versions."

This is an opportunity to own the original, first printed appearance of Ampere's fundamentally important work in Electrodynamics. It would be an interesting collection to build the variations of Ampere's work over those seven years to see how his thought evolved. As far as we are aware there is no standard bibliographic reference for Ampere's work.

LITERATURE
Dibner, Heralds of Science 62 (first separate edition)
Honeyman Sale 82 (original journal appearance)
Mottelay, Bibliographical History of Electricity and Magnetism, p. 472
Norman 43 (first separate edition).
Ekelof, Catalogue of Books and Papers in Electricity and Magnetism, pp 284-286
Sparrow, Milestones of Science p33 (first separate edition).