Gilbert (William) De Magnete, first edition, woodcut device on title and coat-of-arms to verso, woodcut illustrations, folding woodcut plate torn and stained, woodcut initials and decorations, head of title with corner torn away, title and verso of final leaf a little dust-soiled, ink correction to one word on D6 recto, lacking free endpapers, contemporary limp vellum, soiled, lacking ties, bottom corner of lower cover torn away, [PMM 107; Dibner, Heralds of Science 54; STC 11883; Horblit 41; Tomash & Williams G43], folio, Peter Short, 1600.

⁂ A very good, complete copy in original condition of the first really modern scientific book published in England. In this work on electricity Gilbert established that the earth itself was one great magnet. He worked out the variation and declination of the compass and he distinguished magnetic mass from weight. He first used the terms 'electricity', 'electric force' and 'electric attraction', invented the first electric measuring instrument the 'electro-meter', and considered the static quality of amber as an electric force. His book influenced Kepler, Galileo and Newton and became one of the foundation works of modern physics.