finely bound

Second edition, handsomely bound for Christ's Hospital, London, and awarded as a prize for achievement in physics in 1880.

'As a lecturer Tyndall was famed for the charm and animation of his language, for lucidity of exposition, his showmanship, and singular skill in devising and conducting interesting and exciting experimental illustrations... As a writer he did much for the diffusion and popularization of scientific knowledge' and his books 'promoted the evangelical cause of science to a worldwide audience. The book on Light (1873) gave the substance of lectures delivered in the United States in the winter of 1872–3. The proceeds of these lectures, which by judicious investment amounted in a few years to between £6000 and £7000, were devoted to fellowships at three American universities for the encouragement of science' (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography).

Second edition; 8vo (18.5 x 12 cm), engraved portrait frontispiece and 1 plates, engravings throughout the text, prize bookplate, offsetting to the title from the frontispiece, light toning and occasional small spots to the contents; tan calf prize binding, spine gilt in compartments with floral tools, red morocco label, Christ's Hospital crest and double gilt fillets to boards, marbled endpapers and edges, spine toned with some loss of the gilt, minor dampstain to upper board and a few small scuffs and marks, a very good copy; 272pp.