Regnault

1850 · réf. S14253 — Paris :: Victor Masson ; Langlois et Leclercq no date ca. 1850. 1850. 4 volumes. 12mo. 4 407 1 ; 2 396 ; 4 430 ; 4 523 1 pp. Half-titles 689 figures see vol. IV p. 462 1 double-page engraved chart vol. II between pp. 56/57 1 double-page engraved plate vol. III between pp. 16/17; lightly foxed. Original quarter dark green gilt-stamped calf marbled boards. Beautiful copy. 385 Second edition. 'Elementary chemistry course for faculties secondary schools teacher training colleges and industrial schools.' Well-illustrated with 689 numbered figures. / Henri Victor Regnault FRS was a French chemist and physicist best known for his careful measurements of the thermal properties of gases. He entered the Ecole Polytechnique in 1830 then the Ecole des Mines. He worked as Gay-Lussac's repetiteur in 1836 and succeeded Gay-Lussac in 1840 as Professor of Chemistry at the Ecole Polytechnique. He was an early proponent of thermodynamics and was mentor to William Thomson in the late 1840s. He became a member of the Academie des Sciences. In 1841 he was appointed Professor of Physics at the College de France. In 1847 he was promoted to Chief Mining Engineer. In 1852 Regnault took a new position as Director of manufacturing at Sevres which he held until 1871. He also became a noted photographer. After studying Louis Desire Blanquart-Evrard's modifications to William Henry Fox Talbot's positive/negative calotype paper process Regnault probably began to photograph around 1847. He photographed landscapes architecture portraits and genre scenes. A founding member of the Societe heliographique in 1851 he also served as the founding president of the Societe Francaise de Photographie in 1854. He never used his first given name and was known throughout his lifetime as Victor Regnault. Victor Masson ; Langlois et Leclercq, [no date, ca. 1850]. hardcover