Beschreibung:

HERSCHEL, Sir John Frederick William (1792-1871) The Herschel family collection of 69 offprints, extracts and separate publications by Sir John F. Herschel, 1813-1850. An exceptional collection of 69 original works by Sir John Herschel assembled by his son, William James Herschel (1833-1917), complete with secret compartment to hold the Herschel family diamonds. The collection includes offprints of Herschel’s three most important publications on photography: ‘On the chemical action of the rays of the solar spectrum on preparations of silver and other substances.’ [With:] – ‘On the action of the rays of the solar spectrum on vegetable colours, and on some new photographic processes’. [And:] – ‘On certain improvements on photographic processes.’ Offprints from the Philosophical Transactions for 1840, 1842 & 1843, the first two with authorial annotations. These offprints are of extreme rarity – ABPC/RBH list no other copy of any of them in the past 75 years. Among the mathematical works are several on the ‘calculus of operators’, as well as Herschel’s corrected galley proofs of a very important article on the theory of probability which was read by James Clerk Maxwell and led him to introduce probabilistic methods into the theory of gases, and thereby lay the foundations of statistical physics. There is also an offprint in which Herschel describes a mechanical calculating machine, developed ‘In the course of a conversation with Mr. Babbage on the subject of applying machinery to the performance of numerical computations’. The astronomy papers include an offprint of Herschel’s great catalogue of 380 double stars (i.e., binary stars). All of the offprints are rare, with most either not listed in Worldcat, or listed in only a handful of copies. A full list of the contents is available online and on request. A hole (40mm x 17 x 25mm) has been cut into the inner margin of pp. 1-402 of no. 23 in vol. II, not affecting title or text. A loosely inserted autograph note, probably in William J. Herschel’s hand, indicates that seven diamonds were at one time secreted in this hole, and that they were lost, and then found, in the autumn of 1898 (sadly, the diamonds are no longer present). The inserted note reads: ‘The “7” Diamonds taken out to go to New Lodge, 24 September Saturday 1898 – and replaced 8 October 1898. I put this note in their place when taking them out to go to N[ew] Lodge – & recollect nothing more of what I did with them till on M[onda]y morning as I woke – I found I did not know. Concluded after careful thought that I must have put them in my fob, & have taken them out unwittingly with a £5 note at the R[ailwa]y ticket office – spent £44 on advert – & an agent – & on 8 Oct. they were restored to me “found on platform”.’ Three volumes, quarto (278 x 206mm). Numerous plates and text-illustrations, the offprints and extracts in the second half of vol. III window mounted to size (some light staining to top margins and into text in vol. I, variable spotting and browning throughout affecting a few plates more heavily). Late 19th-century dark green half morocco, gilt spines with two red morocco lettering-pieces (endpapers renewed, original front pastedown in vol. II preserved with a list of contents in William J. Herschell's hand and another hand, extremities lightly rubbed, joints more heavily). Provenance: John Herschel (ink presentation inscription ‘W. J. Herschel / From his affectionate / father JFWH’ in his hand on front free endpaper of vol. III, to:) – William James Herschel (1833-1917; ownership stamps on a number of the offprints, and loosely inserted note in his hand described above) – Dr Sydney Ross (1915-2013, leading chemist and bibliophile, former Professor of Colloid Science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York; published a 590-page annotated Catalogue of the Herschel Library in 2001; small red book label on front pastedowns).