Benjamin Martin's Miscellaneous Correspondence Vol 3 (1759/1760)

With plates of the executions at Lisbon, Halley's Comet, the transit of Venus, and the Flea...

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Printing Details

First edition. Full leather. 21 × 13cm, 590pp.

Full title: Miscellaneous Correspondence, Containing a Variety of Subjects Relative to Natural and Civil History, Geography, Mathematics, Poetry. Memoirs of Monthly Occurrences, Catalogues of New Books etc 1759 & 1760.

Benjamin Martin was a prominent lexicographer, scientific instrument maker, and populariser of Newtonian science. He published The General Magazine of Arts and Sciences (1755–1764) to allow lay audiences to become masters of useful arts and sciences. This title, his Miscellaneous Correspondence, served as the open-ended, participatory section of the periodical which collected monthly miscellany, topical news, subscriber-submitted mathematical puzzles, correspondence, and reviews, which were eventually bound into standalone biennial volumes and illustrated with plates. Some highlights of this volume include:

Frontispiece: The city of Lisbon, capital of Portugal.

January 1759: Plate and text of an armed Mohawk Indian.

February 1759: Map of Martinico (Martinique) by Emanuel Bowen (Geographer to his Majesty).

A Brief account and plate of the executions in Lisbon (in Jan 1759, Portuguese nobility had apparently tried to assassinate King Joseph I. The plate shows the execution platform where the accused were beheaded, strangled, and broken on the wheel).

March 1759: A Map of the Island of Guadaloupe.

April 1759: A plan of Quebec

An account of the life of the flea, with fold-out plate of a flea, drawn from life.

Fold out plate of "the orbit of the comet which has now appeared (according to Dr Halley's prediction)". Edmond Halley (died 1742) predicted that Halley's Comet would return in 1758/1759, which it did in January 1759.

July 1759: A map of the River Seine from the Sea to Rouen.

August 1759: A chart showing the orbit of the late comet (presumably Halley's comet again, as this was observed in 1682).

September 1759: A map of the Atlantic Ocean, a plate of the large American Wood Spider, and the Toad Fish drawn from life.

October 1759: Plate: Two water-spouts (drawn from life).

January 1760: Plate: The head and eyes of a bee, dissected and magnified.

March 1760: A chart showing the projection and calculation of the Transit of Venus.

These highlights along with notes and news from around the world. There are a few further smaller illustrations within the text but no plates other than what has been listed above.

Condition

Fair to Good. The leather is rubbed, with the front joint cracked and weak, the rear joint more firmly attached but worn nevertheless. The inner binding is sound, with a little isolated straining. Most plates in good condition for age, a few with slight marginal loss, and the chart of Halley's Comet (April 1759) has been folded back a little roughly and is creased with one or two small punctures to the folds. A little corner creasing but otherwise remaining in a good readable state.

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