105 - BRISSON (Mathurin-Jacques). The Specific Gravity of Bodies. Paris, Imprimerie Royale, 1787. Large 4to, marbled sheepskin, plain spine with decoration, red title label (contemporary binding). Head and foot caps torn off, joints split, scuff marks, and areas of leather missing. Paper discolored or browned in places.

BRISSON (Mathurin-Jacques). The Specific Gravity of Bodies. Paris, Imprimerie Royale, 1787. Large 4to, marbled sheepskin, plain spine with decoration, red title label (contemporary binding). Head and foot caps torn off, joints split, scuff marks, and areas of leather missing. Paper discolored or browned in places. First edition of this important treatise on experimental physics and metrology, by the naturalist and physicist Mathurin-Jacques Brisson (1723–1806). It is illustrated with two engraved plates, depicting crystalline forms. The work, which compiles the densities of numerous substances (metals, minerals, precious stones, liquids, and plant and animal materials), serves as a reference for the history of physical measurements at the end of the Ancien Régime. Brisson was notably a collaborator of Lavoisier, who provided him with some of the substances studied in this work as well as weighing results.