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A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism “Maxwell was the greatest theoretical physicist of the nineteenth century… Einstein’s work on relativity was founded directly upon Maxwell’s electromagnetic theory; it was this that led him to equate Faraday with Galileo and Maxwell with Newton.” -Printing and the Mind of Man, 355"Maxwell is regarded by most modern physicists as the scientist of the 19th century who had the greatest influence on 20th-century physics, and he is ranked with Sir Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein for the fundamental nature of his contributions. In 1931, on the 100th anniversary of Maxwell's birth, Einstein described the change in the conception of reality in physics that resulted from Maxwell's work as 'the most profound and the most fruitful that physics has experienced since the time of Newton.'" -Britannica FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE of one of the most influential works in the history of science. Maxwell's "Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism is probably, after Newton's Principia, the most renowned book in the history of physics. It was published in 1873 and has been in continuous use ever since. In 1000 pages of crisply written text and mathematics it encompasses virtually everything that was known about electricity and magnetism. It has inspired most of the work done in the subject ever since" (Basil Mahon, The Man Who Changed Everything: The Life of James Clerk Maxwell). In 1873, Maxwell published a "difficult two-volume Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism that was destined to change the orthodox picture of physical reality. The treatise did for electromagnetism what Newton's Principia had done for classical mechanics. It not only provided the mathematical tools for the investigation and representation of the whole of electromagnetic theory, but it altered the very framework of both theoretical and experimental physics" (Bruce J. Hunt, The Maxwellians). Provenance: From the library of Sir Alfred George Greenhill (1847-1927), with his owner inscription on half-title of each volume. Greenhill was a mathematician and fellow of St. Johns College, Cambridge who focused on elliptical functions and their applications to dynamics, hydrodynamics, elasticity and electrostatics. He studied under James Clerk Maxwell at Cambridge. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1873. Octavo, early three-quarter burgundy morocco. Two volumes. First issue, with undated 15-page catalog with "just published" after Maxwell listing. Complete with 20 plates. Text very clean. A handsome set in fine condition with an interesting provenance. RARE, particular in first issue. $9000. |
