3 volumes, 4to (216 x 165 mm). 20 folding plates (toning, very light intermittent spotting, frontispiece trimmed.) Contemporary half calf (rubbing to extremities, front hinge on first volume repaired, others starting, minor loss to spine head of second volume). Provenance: Louis Blanchard Wilson (1866-1943), American doctor and former Chief of Pathology at the Mayo Clinic (his bookplate).

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek was a Dutch microbiologist and microscopist who was often referred to as "the Father of Microbiology." Among his most profound discoveries was the vacuole of the cell, the banded pattern of muscular fibers, and spermatozoa, the last discovery so controversial at the time that all references to it were carefully excised from this edition (Dobell, p. 410). Garrison-Morton 67, 265; Grolier/Horblit 65 (both citing the 1686--1718 original Dutch editions); Printing and the Mind of Man 166.

[With]: DOBELL, Clifford (1886-1949). Antony van Leeuwenhoek and His "Little Animals." New York: Harcourt, Brace & Company, 1932. 4to. Original buckram (soiling). Provenance: Louis Blanchard Wilson. FIRST EDITION.