Accademia del Cimento, Saggi di naturali esperienze, Florence, 1691, contemporary vellum

Accademia del Cimento

Saggi di naturali esperienze fatte nell' Accademia del Cimento... e descritte dal Segretario di essa Accademia [Lorenzo Magalotti]. Seconda edizione. Florence: Giovanni Filippo Cecchi, 1691

folio (352 x 245mm.), half-title, title printed in red and black with engraved device, engraved head- and tailpieces, woodcut initials, numerous full-page engraved illustrations, final imprimatur leaf, contemporary vellum, lacking engraved portrait of Cosimo III

A clean, large and crisp copy of this second printing of the experiments of the Accademia del Cimento, first published in 1667. Although the Accademia was only active for ten years, it achieved remarkable results, and exerted enormous influence on the European scientific community. The Saggi remains one of the earliest scientific and technical journals ever published (preceded by the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London in 1665); its impact is attested by the remarkable number of later editions published.