Avebury Books

Microscopes and Microscopy

• CLICK IMAGES TO VIEW PHOTOS •

Austin, V.A. & Blankenhorn, R.C. A Preliminary Checklist of Books Relating to Microscopes and Microscopy. Redondo Beach, CA: The Gemmary, 1993. 133 pp., beige and black wraps. New copy. $15.

Part I deals with the light microscope and lists 1333 items; Part II adds an additional 292 items on electron microscopes. Useful for tracking down editions, authors, and bibliographical information.

Baker, Henry. A Report concerning the Microscope-Glasses, sent as a present to the Royal Society, by Father di Torre of Naples, and referred to the Examination of Mr. Baker, F.R.S. "Read April 17, 1766." Extract from Philosophical Transactions, v. 56 for 1766 and 1767. Disbound, consisting of pp. 57-92, the Baker on pp. 67-71. Other articles by Messier on a comet, by Brice on a comet (with a plate), and by Mallet on a transit of Venus (in Latin). Stapled at the gutter margin, otherwise a Very Good, crisp, copy. $75.

Torre sent some simple microscopes of extreme smallness (the smallest was 144th of an inch in diameter!) to the Royal Society. Baker found them to be unusable because of the extremely short focal length!

The Billings Microscope Collection of the Medical Museum, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. [Ed. By James L. Hansen, et al.]. Washington, D.C.: Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, 1974. Second Edition. Grey and green wraps, 7 ¾" x 10 ¼", Colored frontis. +244 pp., illus., color plates. Very slight bumps to corners, a near-Fine copy. $125.

The most complete guide to the microscopes in one of the largest collections ever assembled. Each of 475 instruments is illustrated with a black & white photograph and a brief description is given. Includes some simple microscopes and some electron microscopes.

Bracegirdle, Brian. A History of Microtechnique. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1978. First American Edition. xiv + 359 pp., illus., plates (some colored). Black and red cloth, dust jacket. Fine copy in Fine dust jacket. $100.

The print and plates are of better quality in this edition than in the later, 2nd, edition.

Bracegirdle, Brian. Microscopical Mounts and Mounters. [London]: Quekett Microscopical Club, 1998. First Edition. Blue cloth, vi + 224 pp., illustrated, 60 color plates. New copy. $45.

A splendid alphabetical listing of hundreds of known mounters together with excellent color plates illustrating examples of the slides, and some text illustrations showing old catalogs. Printed on art stock paper, this fine work is a must have for every slide collector.

Cosslett, V.E. Bibliography of Electron Microscopy. London: Edward Arnold & Co., 1950. First Edition. 9" x 6", 350 pp. Blue cloth, in slightly worn blue dust jacket. An ex.lib. copy with call letters on the spine and d.j. and some internal markings. $135.

Especially valuable for the very extensive annotations that detail the early history and applications of electron microscopy.

Dobell, Clifford. Antony Van Leeuwenhoek and His "Little Animals" Being Some Account of the Father of Protozoology and Bacteriology and His Multifarious Discoveries in These Disciplines. Collected, translated and edited from his printed works, unpublished manuscripts and contemporary records. With an introduction by Cornelis B. van Niel. New York: Russell & Russell Inc., 1958. Vii + 435 pp., illustrated. Quarter yellow cloth with light green marbled boards, dust jacket (a bit worn and soiled, two 1" tears). $30.

Facsimile reprint of the 1932 first edition, a wonderful read about the father of microscopy! Many of the original letters are transcribed here, and there is a full account of his microscopes.

Gravé, Eric. Discover the Invisible: A Naturalist's Guide to Using the Microscope. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1984. xvi + 202 pp., illustrated, color plates. Black cloth in pictorial dust jacket. Inscription and owner's label on free endpaper, remainder mark on bottom edge, otherwise a Fine copy. $25.

One of the best of the intelligent beginner's guides to microscopy, with exceptional illustrations.

Jennings, Herbert S. Contributions to the Study of the Behavior of Lower Organisms. Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institution ,1904. First edition. Large octavo, 256 pp., illus., Recent cloth (slightly bubbled at lower corners), original spine label laid down. Very Good. $75.

Issued two years before his classic work, 'Behavior of the Lower Organisms,' this is a collection of seven original papers detailing Jennings's important microscopical and experimental work on the behavior of single-celled organisms. The illustrations are excellent, and show the movement patterns using an interesting "animation" technique.

Lee, Arthur Bolles. The Microtomist's Vade-Mecum: A Handbook of the Methods of Microscopic Anatomy. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston, Son & Co., 1886. First US Edition. [Same year as London 1st, with identical text]. 5¼" x 7¾"; 424 pp. Original publisher's grey/blue cloth, gilt lettered spine (worn at ends, and with some minor spotting to the spine and covers). Name on half-title and title-page, a clean and tight copy, with only very minor age yellowing to the paper. $175.

"The most important of all books on specimen preparation," according to Bracegirdle, and the first truly scientific work on the subject. The book went through many editions, the last being in 1950. The coverage is extensive: microtomes, embedding methods, fixing, staining, serial sections, and much else. Very scarce; we have not seen a first (or first US) edition offered for sale in some years.

Kofoid, Charles Atwood and Swezy, Olive. The Free-Living Unarmored Dinoflagellata ("Memoirs of the University of California 5"). University of California Press, Berkeley, CA, 1921. First Edition. 13" x 10", viii + 562 pp., 12 colored plates, 388 figures in text. Maroon cloth, ribbed spine, lettered in yellow ( rubbed on spine and front cover). Some foxing and yellowing, and the plates are separating. Very Good copy. $75.

Kofoid (1865-1947) was an important contributor to the knowledge of dinoflaggelates and to marine biology generally. An accomplished microscopist, Kofoid was head of the Marine Biological Station in La Jolla, which later became the Scripps Institute. The remarkable color plates in this volume show a variety of species.

McCrone, Walter C., Jr. Fusion Methods in Chemical Microscopy. New York: Interscience Publishers, 1957. 307 pp., Illustrated, plates (some colored). Color photographic frontispiece. Green cloth, corners bumped, flyleaf excised, a Good copy. $75.

McCrone was an ardent champion of direct optical microscopical analysis until his recent death. A master teacher and expositor, this book centers on methods and procedures which involve heating a compound on a microscope slide.

Mulder, Gerardus Johannes. Versuch einer allgemeinen physiologischen Chemie. Mit eigenen Zusätzen des Verfassers für diese deutsche Ausgabe seines Werkes. Braunschweig: Vieweg, 1844 - 1851. Two volumes, bound as one. xii + vi + 1289 pp. + 15 pp. (explanation of plates) + 20 plates (8 hand-colored). Marbled boards (front board loose), Part of original leather spine (gilt) tipped in. The binding poor, text and plates Good, with occasional foxing. [Binding this thick work as one volume was a mistake, however the original boards and spine could perhaps serve in a reconstructed binding]. $175.

Mulder (1802-1880) was a student of Wöhler and Bunsen and was Professor at Utrecht; this edition apparently translated (with additions) from the original Dutch. An important contribution to chemical microscopy, with vivid hand-colored plates.

Norris, Richard Hill. The Physiology and Pathology of the Blood: Comprising the Origins, Mode of Development, Pathological and Postmortem Changes of its Morphological Elements in Mammalian and Oviparous Vertebrates." With Micro-Photographic Illustrations." London: Smith, Elder, & Co., 1882. First Edition. xlv + 274 pp., + 23 plates (mostly photomicrographs). Brown cloth (spine lettered in gilt), brown endpapers (small red sticker on front paste down), a near-Fine copy of a scarce work. $250.

Norris (1830-1916) was among the first to observe platelets in the blood, publishing an article in 1878; an early attack on his work led him to issue this extended account, with nearly 200 photomicrographs. Norris, also a pioneer in photomicrography, used a variety of clever mechanical means to isolate the platelets and to photograph them under high magnification. He engaged in controversy with Giulio Bizzozero of Turin, who published a similar account in 1882. This book reprints Bizzozero's paper and the exchange between him and Norris, mostly from the pages of "The Lancet."

Padgitt, Donald L. A Short History of the Early American Microscopes. London /Chicago, IL: Microscope Publications Ltd., 1975. First Edition. 8½" x 5½", xi + 147 pp., illus. Yellow cloth, some very minor smudges, a near-Fine copy. $95.

An essential work for those interested in American microscopy, covering the period from the 1840s to the first few years of the 20th century.

Quekett, John. A Practical Treatise on the Use of the Microscope. London: Hippolyte Bailliere, Publisher, 1848. [Reprint of the First Edition, by Science Heritage Ltd., 1987]. Green cloth, gilt. Frontis. (showing a Ross Microscope) + xxi + 464 pp., illus. + adverts. (Ross, Dancer, etc.). Small corner bump, else as New. $50.

Nice reprint of this rare classic.

Reithmeier, Gordon P. Microscopes by Bausch & Lomb Optical Co., Rochester, NY, 1876-1896. Fallbrook, CA: The Gemmary, 2000 (first published 1997). Gray printed wraps, v + 57 pp., illus. New copy. $20.

Full page reproductions of all the key B&L instruments taken from the company's catalogues. Useful identification guide with helpful ancillary information (e.g., a list of serial numbers by date).

Robin, Ch. Traité du microscope son mode d'emploi ses applications a l'étude des injections a l'anatomie humaine et comparée a la pathologie medico-chirurgicale a l'histoire naturelle animale et végétale et a l'économie agricole. Avec 317 figures intercalées dans le texte et 3 planches gravées. Paris, Baillière et Fils, 1871, xx + 1028 pp. + adverts., illustrated, plates. Original dark green cloth, gilt spine (worn at edges), the binding somewhat loose. $150.

An important histologist, Robin wrote many books and was partly responsible for introducing the term "biologie" in France. The plates show two microscopes by Nachet and a variety of microscopical accessories.

Smith, William. A Synopsis of the BRITISH DIATOMACEAE; With Remarks on their Structure, Functions, and Distribution; and Instructions for Collecting and Preserving Specimens. "The Plates by Tuffen West." 2 volumes. London: Printed for Smith and Beck, Published by John van Voorst, 1853-1856. First Edition. 10" x 7" Vol. 1: colored frontis. + xxxiii + 89 pp. + [2 pp.; "Smith & Beck; Microscopical Preparations of the Diatomaceae"] + 31 plates + 10 pp.; "Catalogue of Achromatic Microscopes, &c. Manufactured by Smith and Beck," March 1853; Vol. 2: colored frontis. + xxx + 107 pp. + [4 pp.; "Smith & Beck; Microscopical Preparations of the Diatomaceae" (much expanded from that in Vol. 1)] + [32] - 62 plates + 5 colored plates (numbered A through E) + 15 pp.; "Catalogue of Achromatic Microscopes, & c. Manufactured by Smith and Beck," London, March, 1856. Original brown blind-stamped publisher's cloth, gilt spines, professionally (and all but invisibly) strengthened, preserving the original cloth and endpapers. Contemporary bookseller's label on front flyleaves, owner's initials and dates ("1854" and "1856") on title pages, some foxing to some of the plates, a very few old pencil notes. An attractive and desirable set, the colors retaining their vivid hues! $750.

An extraordinary work, the first comprehensive account of English diatoms by the eminent Professor of Natural History at Queen's College, Cork, Ireland. That alone would guarantee the book a wide interest, but the set is also a collection of splendid plates by the eminent illustrator Tuffen West, seven (including the frontispieces) hand-colored and 62 uncolored, and all showing the mastery of this great naturalist and engraver. Hundreds of species are illustrated, and the fineness of detail and artistic presentation have, to our taste, seldom been equaled To cap off the pleasures of this delightful set, there are four catalogs by the eminent British microscope manufacturers Smith and Beck from their address at 6 Coleman Street, London.

Interest in diatoms among the British Victorian microscopists was growing rapidly by the 1850s, soon to eclipse that on the continent. In spite of the efforts of Pritchard and others, however, there had been no systematic attempt to catalogue the species most commonly found in Britain, so this work filled a large gap. In addition, Smith's careful research contributed greatly to an understanding of the structure, physiology, and reproduction of these enigmatic "infusoria," which he regarded as plants, closely allied to the algae. Serving as a standard ever since, his descriptions and the illustrations are still referenced in works on the diatom today.