Principles of Electricity, Containing Divers new Theorems and Experiments, Together With An Analysis Of the Superior Advantages of high and pointed Conductors.

Stanhope, Charles. [Benjamin Franklin]

Published by Printed fo P. Elmsly, in the Strand, London, 1779

About this Item

First edition of Stanhopeâ s important treatise on electricity, a deluxe blue-paper presentation copy given by the author to Benjamin Franklin. Quarto, original publisherâ s marbled boards, blue-paper issue, the boards rebacked preserving much of the original spine, illustrated with six engraved folding plates at rear. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author to Benjamin Franklin on the front free endpaper, â From the Author to B. Franklin, 2nd June 1785" and with early manuscript corrections in ink, evidently in the authorâ s hand following the errata. Stanhope's treatise repeatedly engages Franklinâ s electrical experiments, devoting a substantial section, and one of its plates, to the celebrated controversy Franklin had begun over the merits of pointed versus blunt lightning conductors, a question the Revolutionary War had charged with political meaning, for King George III, in his hostility toward the rebel Franklin, had taken up the cause of blunt conductors and pressed the Royal Society to endorse them, so that to defend Franklinâ s pointed design was, in effect, to take the American side. Stanhopeâ s experiments led him to vindicate Franklinâ s pointed conductors, and he presented this very copy to Franklin as a memorial of their shared victory. That Stanhope corrected this very copy in his own hand, in ink throughout, makes it an exceptionally personal survival, for the author himself went through the text to perfect it before presenting the volume, so that Franklin received not merely a printed book but one bearing the authorâ s own manuscript emendations. Uncut and in the original boards, this outstanding blue-paper copy survives very much as it was when Franklin first held it in 1785. Charles Stanhope, later the third Earl Stanhope, was a radical Whig politician, experimental scientist, and prolific inventor, best remembered for the Stanhope press, the first printing press built entirely of iron. In near fine condition, a clean and full-margined copy. Recorded in the catalogue of Franklinâ s own library (Wolf and Hayes 3236), later in the collection of Laird U. Park Jr., and subsequently the collection of renowned Americana collector Jay Snider with his small bookplate to the pastedown. Housed in a half red morocco clamshell box with velvet-lined chemise. An extraordinary association copy, Franklinâ s own copy of the book that vindicated his most famous scientific idea, inscribed to him by its author. The debate over lightning conductors was one of the most celebrated scientific controversies of the eighteenth century. Franklin had demonstrated that sharply pointed rods draw off electrical charge more effectively than blunt ones, but after lightning struck a government powder magazine the question was reopened, and King George III, in his hostility toward the rebellious Franklin, favored blunt conductors and pressed the Royal Society to endorse them. The scientific question thus became a political one, a proxy for the larger quarrel between Britain and her American colonies. Charles Stanhope, then styled Viscount Mahon, was among the boldest champions of Franklin?s pointed conductors, and after a series of highly publicized experiments he set out in Principles of Electricity the evidence by which he believed he had proved Franklin right. Beyond his electrical work Stanhope was a tireless inventor, devising calculating machines, a microscope lens, a steam carriage, a durable new cement, and above all the iron Stanhope printing press, which transformed the craft of printing.

Seller Inventory # 152824

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Principles of Electricity, Containing Divers new Theorems and Experiments, Together With An Analysis Of the Superior Advantages of high and pointed Conductors.
• Publisher: Printed fo P. Elmsly, in the Strand, London
• Publication Date: 1779
• Binding: Soft cover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)
• Seller catalogs:
  • Americana