Experiments and Observations on Electricity, Made at Philadelphia in America [bound with 3 other volumes]

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Experiments and Observations on Electricity, Made at Philadelphia in America [bound with 3 other volumes]

Artist Thomas Jefferys (British, 1719-1771)

Publisher E. Cave, London, 1751

Printer E. Cave, London

Author Benjamin Franklin (American, 1706-1790)

Place of OriginSt. John's Gate, London, England

Date1751

Dimensionsbook: 9 3/8 x 7 1/4 x 1 5/8 in. (238 x 184 x 41mm)
page: 9 1/8 x 7 in. (232 x 178mm)

Mediumoriginal prints: engraved diagrams (folded) text: letterpress paper: cream laid paper, watermarked

ClassificationBooks

Object number

1923.3146

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Label TextThis book is important more for its historical and scientific contribution than for its aesthetic contribution to the history of printing. This is the first edition of Franklin's notable electrical experiments. In 1746-1747, Franklin began his investigations of electrical phenomena. Ingenious experiments and machines were devised and described in personal letters to England, which were relayed to the royal Society of London. These papers were collected and published in the 1751 volume you see here (a French translation was published in 1752). Thus Franklin's experiments and theories rapidly spread to the scientific circles of Europe. Every school child remembers learning Franklin's dangerous experiment of flying a kite in a thunderstorm to prove the identity of lightening and electricity. This was one facet of his studies. Franklin also devised many of the terms still widely used in discussing basic electricity, such as positive, negative, battery and conductor.