Traite Physique et Historique de l'Aurore Boreale.
Amsterdam: Mortier, 1735.
Title printed in red & black with printer's device. Illustrated with 17 copperplate engraved folding plates (27 figures) and one folding table. [10], 392 pages. Short 8vo, older cloth-backed marbled boards. Amsterdam: Pierre Mortier, 1735. Light foxing, otherwise a near fine copy.
An Amsterdam reprint of the earliest exhaustive treatise on the aurora borealis, two quarto editions of which had previously been published at Paris in 1733 and 1734. Mairan attributed the phenomenon of the aurora borealis to an extension of the sun's atmosphere, which at times, he supposed, enveloped the Earth, and blended with our atmosphere. The zodiacal light was similarly accounted for.
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Near Fine
Language: French
Price: $550.00
Item #135455