Idées sur la météorologie by LUC, Jean Andre de - 1786

London, 1786. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Good. 1st Edition. Hardcover. 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" tall. London: de l'imprimerie de T. Spilsbury, Snow-Hill. Se vend chez P. Elmsley ... à Londres; et chez la Veuve Duchesne ... à Paris, 1786-87. 2 volumes in 3, 8vo, [pi] 4 A8 (-A1) B--T8 U8 (+/-U8) [chi] 2 X--2N8, 293 leaves, pp. [8] [3]-320 [2] [319*]-320* 321-543 [1] [485]--516, with a half-title; title to part 2 on [chi]1 dated 1786; [pi]4 A--2G8, 243 leaves, pp. [8] 478 [2], with a half-title, advertisements and errata on recto of last leaf, verso blank. Plates: 2 folding engraved plates: numbered Pl. I--II, signed 'Woodman and Mutlow, fec. Russel Cot.', bound at p. 444 in vol. I.Leaf size and condition: 208 x 127mm. Some scattered foxing. Contemporary calf, occasional light spotting, hinges repaired. --- A work on meteorology which also contains important sections on heat and combustion and the controversy over the discovery of latent heats. Deluc conducted experiments on latent heat with James Watt in 1783 and here refers to his work with Watt and the researches of Cavendish and Priestley. Cole describes the Paris issue with both volumes dated 1787 and with half titles listing Deluc's works on the versos, an approbation and privilège in the prelims of vol. I and a divisional title to the second part of vol. I. ESTC locates 13 copies of the London issue in the UK and Ireland and 3 in North America (Yale, Smithsonian and Bowdoin College), and only the British Library and Yale copies of the Paris issue; Cole's copy is now in the Huntington Library. Literature: Douglas McKie and Niels H. de V. Heathcote, The discovery of specific and latent heats (London, 1935) pp. 48--50. 1786-1787.