Bibliographical Notes on Histories of Inventions and Books of Secrets

London: Holland Press, 1959 2 volumes 8vo (22 cm), [6], 62 (ie 66); 25, 43,44, 35, 36 pp; [4], 41 pp, PP. 173 - 213, 68, 28, 61, 79, 33, 77, [3] pp, 3 plates. Publisher's cloth, top edges painted blue. First collected edition limited to 350 copies. A collection of papers by Scottish chemist and bibliographer John Ferguson (1837-1916) originally published from 1882 to 1916: Parts 1 - 6 and Index in the one volume; Supplements, Parts 1 - 7 and Index in the second. "Ferguson's 'Bibliotheca Chemica' has long been one of the best known and most used of special bibliographies of the history of science, but his 'Secrets' is comparatively unknown and rarely quoted. Its rarity has been the only cause of this. 'Bibliotheca Chemica' is the catalogue of another man's (James Young's) collection: the 'Secrets' is the record of Ferguson's lifetime of collecting and study of a class of book notably rare. The 'Secrets' is a book to read as much to consult; for, to the accuracy of collation to found in all his bibliographical work, there is added the valuable descriptions of the contents of the books that came from continual and informed study." (from the Preface by E. A. Osborne)