Observations on different kinds of air.

London: Lockyer Davis, 1772. [Extract from Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, LXII, 147-264]. Very Good. Quarto (23 cm); pages 147-264, and one folding plate. In modern quarter calf over marbled boards, worn slightly. Pages toned. Few letters on p. 233 strengthened in ink. Marginal stains, with offset from facing page on one section. Old wax marks on blank verso of plate. Red ink ownership stamp of Robert Erskine on title page.

References: PMM 217; Garrison-Morton 920; Dibner Heralds of Science 40; Norman 1749; etc.

First edition Priestley's investigations in pneumatic chemistry and his first paper on the subject. Reporting on the results of his pneumatic researches since 1770, this present work announced the discovery of hydrochloric acid and nitric oxide, as well as the discovery that plants restored air that had been vitiated by combustion, putrefaction, and respiration. Priestley's "contribution to the knowledge of gases were crucial. He improved the technique for studying them by collecting them over mercury instead of water, so that many more gases could be observed... His many chemical discoveries contributed to the "chemical revolution"' (PMM).

This copy belonged to Robert Erskine, the Scottish inventor who settled in Ringwood, New Jersey (in shouting distance of Rare Book Studio). Appointed by George Washington to the position of Geographer and Surveyor General of the Continental Army, he was instrumental in mapping the northern theater of the Revolutionary War, and engineering safe travel routes between army headquarters at Newburgh NY and Morristown NJ. As ironmaster of the Ringwood works, Erskine provided munitions to the Continental army, and was instrumental in manufacturing the "Great Chain" across the Hudson that foiled British plans to talk Albany. An important provenance.