LAVOISIER Antoine-Laurent de Opuscules physiques et chymiques.

Cole, 769; Duveen & Klickstrein, 121.

First edition, first issue, as described by Duveen & Klickstein. Complete as is.

As early as February 1773, Lavoisier wrote in his laboratory notebook that his experiments would ‘bring about a revolution in physics and chemistry’. In September of the same year, he began writing the Opuscules, a multi-volume work of which only the first volume was published, in which he addressed the interpretation of combustion as ‘the release of phlogiston’ that was generally accepted by chemists in the 18th century.

His book is divided into two parts: the first (pp. 1-184) : Précis historique sur les émanations élastiques qui se dégent descorps pendant la combustion is a summary of the texts on fixed air. In the second part (pp. 187-436) he presents his experiments, which already demonstrate the composite nature of air. He did not openly attack the theory of phlogiston until 1783.

“Lavoisier, in his first major publication, surveys previous works concerning gases and then presents his own experiments” (Cole)

Very good copy.