The Principles of Science. A Treatise on Logic and Scientific Method.

JEVONS, William Stanley.

Published by London: Macmillan and Co., 1874

About this Item

First edition of this incisive analysis of scientific investigation, with an autograph letter laid-in and the bookplate of the recipient, Charles T. Poynting. Jevons's studies for the Principles inspired his "reasoning machine", a logical tool that foreshadowed 20th-century computing, which is illustrated in the frontispiece of the first volume. Charles Thomas Poynting (1845-1911) was a Unitarian minister who was Jevons's neighbour in Withington, Lancashire. In the letter, dated 20 November 1875, Jevons invites Poynting to a lecture on the quantification of the predicate. Poynting's bookplate is also present in the Erwin Tomash Library copy of Jevons's Pure Logic (1864). Although Jevons is perhaps best known as an economist, his work on logic formed a key part of the 19th-century movement to link the discipline with mathematics. Jevons argues against strict Baconian empiricism and in favour of Newtonian hypotheses: "I endeavour to show that hypothetical anticipation of nature is an essential part of inductive inquiry, and that it is the Newtonian method of deductive reasoning combined with elaborate experimental verification, which has led to all the greatest triumphs of scientific research" (p. vii). Inoue & White 134. 2 vols, octavo. Engraved frontispiece with tissue guard. Original brown pebble-grain cloth, spines lettered in gilt, green coated endpapers, edges uncut. Contemporary bookseller's blind stamp of Thomas J. Day, Manchester, to front free endpaper of vol. I. Wear to extremities, loss to spine ends of vol. II, spines toned, inner hinges split but holding, endleaves foxed: in very good condition.

Seller Inventory # 163787

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Principles of Science. A Treatise on Logic and Scientific Method.
• Publisher: London: Macmillan and Co., 1874
• Edition: 1st Edition