Experiences et observations sur electricite Faites a philadelphie en Amerique
BF-2021.002
Paris: Chez Durand, 1752, 1st French edition
Howes F320,. Ford 80. The first French edition of Franklin's famous work on electricity, a translation of the first part of his English publication on his experiments, originally published in London the previous year. This was the first edition issues in a foreign language, and the foundation of Franklin's fame in France, where a quarter century later he was greeted as the great sage of the New World.
From Catalog II
The French translation of Franklin's Experiments and Observations on Electricity -- the work that made him the most famous scientist in Europe and established electricity as the lens through which the Enlightenment understood natural forces. I. Bernard Cohen, in Benjamin Franklin's Science (1990), identifies this work as the founding document of American scientific research: the first major contribution to natural philosophy produced in the colonies that was taken seriously by European scholars. Rush encountered Franklin first as the author of this work before he ever met him in person. The French translation was the text through which European readers knew Franklin; the collection holds it alongside the German and other language editions that document the work's international reach.
Accession
BF-2021.002
Date
1756 — Second French Edition
Author / maker
Franklin, Benjamin
Condition
24,[xx], [10], 222, [2], [30] pp. plus folding plate, 16mo. Contemporary French mottles calf, spine richly gilt in six compartments, gilt morocco label, minor wear to spine ends, worn at corners, hinges a bit tender. Quite clean internally. A very good copy, in a contemporary binding.
Cite this object as“Experiences et observations sur electricite Faites a philadelphie en Amerique.” The Soiferman Collection, BF-2021.002, Wynnewood, Pennsylvania. EIS LIBRIS, https://eislibris.com/objects/experiences-et-observations-sur-electricite-faites-a-philadelphie-en-amerique (accessed [date]).
