Observations d'Histoire naturelle, faites avec le Microscope, sur un grand nombre d'Insectes, & sur les Animalcules qui se trouvent dans les liqueurs préparées, & dans celles qui ne le sont pas, &c. avec la Description & les Usages des différens Microscopes, &c. Partie déjà publiées.. by JOBLOT, Louis

Fine engraved headpiece (repeated three times) depicting a scientist in his laboratory & 53 folding engraved plates. xx, 38, 124 pp.; vi, 78, 27 pp. Two vols. in one. Large 4to, cont. polished calf (corners very carefully repaired), spine gilt, contrasting leather lettering piece on spine. Paris: Briasson, 1754-55. Second edition, greatly enlarged, of the first French book on microscopy (1st ed.: 1718 with the title Descriptions and only 34 plates). Joblot (1645-1723), professor of mathematics at the Ecole nationale des Beaux-Arts, probably became interested in microscopy during the visit of Huygens and Hartsoeker to Paris in 1678 when they demonstrated microscopes brought from Holland. While Joblot's observations were largely limited to protozoa in the first edition, the second edition reflects his study of minerals, plant cross-sections, and insects, illustrated on the plates in the first volume. The charming headpiece, repeated three times, depicts a scientist in his laboratory, surrounded by instruments, specimens, and books. The second volume contains a number of fine plates depicting many new kinds of microscopes and their construction. Joblot "introduced some improvements, including the use of stops (diaphragms) in compound microscopes to correct for chromatic aberration. Joblot designed the first porte loupe, a simple preparation microscope in which the lens is supported by a string of 'Musschenbroek nuts,' forming a ball-and-socket jointed arm."-D.S.B., VII, p. 110. A very handsome copy. Several leaves of the table of contents misbound in the second volume. ❧ Clay & Court, History of the Microscope, pp. 57-61. Dobell, Leeuwenhoek and his Little Animals, p. 372.