PBA Galleries

xx, 397, 3 ad pp. (8vo) 19x11.5 cm (7½x4½"), original boards, modern blue paper backing and white paper title label. First English Edition.

Translated from the French. The first French edition was published in London in 1799 under the title "Choix d'Amusements Physiques et Mathématiques". Contains a large assortment of mathematical and physical curiosities, including chapters on Arithmetic (including many card tricks), Magic Squares, Palingenesy ("... the art of reviving the dead and making the image of a deceased person appear in a glass jar"), Acoustics and Music, and other Amusing Secrets ("To make people in a room have a hideous appearance"), etc. Old book-label of St.Mary's Abbey, East Bergholt on front pastedown.