FIRST GERMAN TRANSLATION OF THE "FIRST MODERN DICTIONARY OF CHEMISTRY"

MACQUER, PIERRE JOSEPH (+) CARL WILHELM POERNER.

Allgemeine Begriffe der Chymie nach alphabetischer Ordnung aus dem Französischen übersetzt und mit Anmerkungen vermehrt. Vol. 1 & 3 (out of 3).

Leipzig, Weidmanns, 1768 & 1769. 8vo. In two later modest half cloth bindings. Soiling to extremities and internally with light occassional brownspotting. Small repair to upper margin of title page in volume 1. XL, 597 pp.; 654, (24) pp.

First German edition of this landmark work "which may be regarded as the first scientific work of its class." (Ferguson I:p.60) and is considered the "first modern dictionary of chemistry".

It was transted by Carl Wilhelm Pörner, a chemist at the Meissen porcelain works in Saxony. "It was made from the threevolume Yverdon (1767) edition, as each of those volumes appeared. Pörner added extensive notes of his own, and there is a separate alphabetical sequence of articles in each volume, as the order of entries was not the same in German after translation from the French. Although he did not know the author's name, the Dictionnaire having appeared anonymously, Pörner was enthusiastic about the book but preferred not to call it a dictionary. He regarded it as a useful general guide to chemistry rather than a mere explanation of the meanings of chemical terms and entitled it (in translation) General conceptions of chemistry, in alphabetical order." (Neville).

Order-nr.: 52904