pdf - Roger Gaskell Rare Books

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RIDLEY, Mark (1560–1624)
A short treatise of magneticall bodies and motions.
London: printed by Nicholas Okes, 1613.
4to: A4 (A2+a4 ) B–V4 X4 (+/–X3) (blanks A1 and X4), 88 leaves, pp.
[16] 157 [3] (Wrst and last 2 pages blank). Woodcut initials, printer’s
woodcut device dated 1610 on colophon on X3. Engraved titlepage
on A2 signed ‘R: Elstrak sculpsit’ (Johnson p. 15), engraved portrait
on a4v, 20 three­quarter page engravings in the text numbered Tab.
I–XX, that on T4 with a movable quadrant attached by a thread, 1
unnumbered half­page engraving on p. 143 and one woodcut on p. 152.
191 x 145mm. Purple mildew stains throughout but the paper
apparently resized and crisp; minor repairs to Wrst few leaves and initial
and terminal blanks and some other leaves chipped in the margins.
Binding: Newly stab­sewn and recased in what could be the original
vellum wrapper made from a contemporary indenture.
First edition, second issue with X3 cancelled and errata printed on the
replacement leaf. STC 21045.5; ESTC S123258; Adams & Waters,
2976; Wheeler Gift 86.
A landmark in the history of experimental science in England, this was the
most important work on magnetism after Gilbert’s De magnete (1600).
‘Dr Ridley, following up Dr Gilbert’s work, here presented directions for
a series of experiments on the lodestone, magnet, and terella which could
be carried out by anyone interested in the subject. He added engravings and
descriptions of his improvised instruments for determining the variation, and
for making use of the inclinatory needle for Wnding position at sea. This was
in accordance with the method published jointly by Edward Wright, Thomas
Blundeville, and Henry Briggs.’ (Taylor, Works, 126).
Like Gilbert, Ridley was a prominent fellow of the College of Physicians and
the two were close friends. But Ridley was dismissive of another contemporary
experimenter who was in contact with Gilbert, William Barlow. Barlow accused
Ridley of plagiarism, saying that Gilbert had shown Ridley the manuscript
of his Magneticall advertisements, not published until 1616. Ridley replied to
this accusation in his only other published work, Magnetical animadversions
(1617). He there ridiculed Barlow’s anti­Copernican arguments, pointing
out the recent discovery of Jupiter’s satellites by the telescope. It is therefore
interesting that Jupiter’s satellites are shown on the engraved titlepage of the
present work, published 4 years earlier.
In his address to the reader, Ridley discusses the images of the planets on
the titlepage, so presumably he had himself directed the engraver, Renald
Elstrack (1570–1625 or later). The lower half of the engraving seems to
show the entrance to a classical building, Xanked by paired Doric colums,
but above, the building disolves into a display of scientiWc instruments, the
planets, and an elephant with a howdah. Elstrack is regarded as the foremost
English engraver of his time, particularly as a portrait engraver (ODNB).
Johnson identiWed 24 titlepages engraved by him between 1610 and 1624.