PEREGRINUS, Peter; THOMPSON, Silvanus P. (trans.)

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Epistle to Sygerus of Foncaucourt, Soldier, Concerning the Magnet. First Chiswick Press edition, this copy with unique rubrication and illumination skilfully executed by the translator's daughter Helen, bearing her gift inscription on the front pastedown: "E done Helen Thompson, May 1948". It is number 131 of 240 copies printed.Petrus Peregrinus de Maricourt composed his Epistola de magnete in 1269. In the work, "Not only did Peregrinus bring together virtually all the relevant, contemporary knowledge on magnetism, but he obviously added to it, and of the greatest importance, organized the whole into a science of magnetism" (DSB). This included the formulation of rules for determining magnetic polarity. The translator Silvanus Phillips Thompson (1851–1916) was an expert in magnetism and had a keen interest in history; his source texts included the first printed edition of 1558 and an Italian manuscript from his own library dated 1391.Helen Gertrude Thompson (1884-1970) studied physics at the University of Cambridge. In 1894, she assisted her father in producing a revised edition of his book Elementary Lessons in Electricity and Magnetism, first published to widespread scientific acclaim in 1881.An accompanying handwritten note, signed C. MacKechnie Jarvis, likely the engineer and collector (1907-2009), states that the book was "specially 'rubricated' for me and presented by Miss Helen Thompson, B.S.C, daughter of the author, May 1948".

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