Micrographia or Some Physiological Description of Minute Bodies Made by Magnifying Glasses with Observations and Enquiries

Micrographia by Robert Hooke.

London: The Folio Society, [2017]. Handsome limited edition of Hooke's seminal text with all 38 plates reproduced at full size, including five large-scale fold outs. Limited to 750 hand-numbered copies and 20 lettered copies which are not for sale; this is number 8. 

Introduced by Ruth Scurr, and with a Brief Life by John Aubrey. 340 × 227 × 43 mm. Pp. [i–vii] viii–xvii [xviii–xx], [1–9] 10–303 [304]: [38] leaves of plates. Type: Caslon. Reprographics by Tag. Printed by Memminger MedienCentrum. Bound by Richard Mayer in quarter black leather with black cloth boards blocked in silver with design by Neil Gower. Silver top edge; dark grey endleaves. Black cloth-covered slip case. Edition statement reads in part ‘limited to 750 numbered copies, and 20 lettered copies which are not for sale’. First published in 1655, the text follows that of the first edition, with modernised spelling and minor emendations.

The illustrations are reproduced from copies of the first and second editions held at the Bodleian Library and the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford. Five of the plates are fold-outs, including that of the celebrated flea. Dedicated to the memory of the historian Lisa Jardine, who died in 2015.

A winner in the scholarly, academic and reference book category of the 2017 British Book Design and Production Awards.

‘A groundbreaking thinker and brilliant experimentalist, a founding figure in the European scientific revolution’ (Lisa Jardine)

Condition

Very light scuffing to the leather on the spine of an otherwise near-fine book with pages tightly bound and free of any inscriptions. In a very good, structurally-sound slipcase that shows some shelf-wear and bumping.

Complete with the original brochure from The Folio Society advertising the edition.