Royal Society | Philosophical transactions. Vol.1, 1665-66, [London, 1667], first volume of the oldest continuous journal of a scientific academy, annotated by Charles II's physician William Ramesay

Royal Society

Philosophical transactions. Vol.1 1665-66. [London, printed in the Savoy, for John Martyn, and James Allestry, 1667]

4to (221 x 168 mm), containing issues No.1 (March 6, 1665) to No.21 (21 January, 1666), 7 engraved plates (of which 3 folding) and one folding table, eighteenth-century calf, armorial of 2nd Viscount Courtenay stamped in gilt to covers, title-page lacking, rebacked with modern spine label

FIRST VOLUME OF THE OLDEST CONTINUOUS JOURNAL OF A SCIENTIFIC ACADEMY, A FASCINATING COPY WITH THE CONTEMPORARY OWNERSHIP INSCRIPTION AND MARGINAL ANNOTATIONS OF WILLIAM RAMESAY, PHYSICIAN-IN-ORDINARY TO KING CHARLES II.

The present volume comprises a remarkable complete run of issues published in the first year of this pioneering scientific journal's existence. The first issue, dating from March 1665, appeared four and a half years after the foundation of the Society, and contains articles on a remarkable range of topics including the improvement of optic glasses, observations on a deformed calf specimen, and an obituary of Pierre de Fermat. From its outset, the publication pioneered several features of modern-day scientific journals, including the system of peer review. Thomas Henry Huxley famously stated that "if all the books in the world except the Philosophical Transactions were destroyed, it is safe to say that the foundations of physical science would remain unshaken", and the twentieth century, the journal's status as a canonical text in the history of Western thought was cemented through its inclusion in Printing and the Mind of Man. However, the Transactions was not a commercially profitable enterprise to begin with. The Society's founding Secretary Henry Oldenburg, who edited and printed the publication at his own expense, barely covered the rent on his Piccadilly home from the revenue raised by subscriptions.

The first volume rarely appears at auction, but the present copy has particularly fascinating provenance, having been owned and annotated by William Ramesey (1627-1676?). This intriguing figure was an astrologer and medical doctor who is believed to have been appointed Physician-in-Ordinary to King Charles II in 1668, the year after the present volume's publication. The elaborate signature on the title-page ("W: Ramesey. Md: Dr:") accords with the physician's preferred spelling of his own surname: he added an extra "e" (as in "Rameses") owing to the fanciful belief that his paternal ancestors hailed from Egypt (ODNB).

Ramesay's diligent and extensive marginalia appear beside some 255 pages. Many of the annotations gloss the text's "most materiall points" (p.27), facilitating easy future reference, and in several places he cross-references ideas that appear elsewhere in the volume, or in other publications. Unsurprisingly, the papers on medical and astronomical topics tend to be annotated heavily, but his interests are by no means confined to these fields of knowledge: for instance, marginalia appear next to passages on viticulture (p. 262), the dispensation between the body and the soul (p. 306), and even an article on Felibien’s Entriens sur les Vies et sur les Ouvrages des plus excellens Peintres (p. 384). This capaciousness reveals an intellectual curiosity that is distinctly seventeenth century in character. Annotations in margins of the literature review sections give a direct insight into Ramesay's literary diet: for instance he writes "A booke worth buyinge" next to Robert Boyle's The Origine of Forms and Qualities (p. 191) and Christopher Merrett's Pinax Rerum Naturalium (p. 364). A work he singles out for particular praise is Athanasius Kircher's Mundus Subterraneus, which he deems "a booke worthy all ingenious industrious study" (p. 109).

Often, the annotations reveal a sense of wonder and curiosity towards the expanding vistas of discovery revealed through pioneering empirical observation. One place in which this attitude strongly comes across is beside the paper "Some Observations and Experiments upon May-Dew", where he notes with fascination the "Heterogeneity of Dew & consequently of water" (p. 33), before listing in the margins a catalogue of the various organisms observed in distilled dew drops ("mushrooms...insects and flys of severall sorts...millipedes...small flyes...Tadpoles...Gnatts" (pp. 34-35)). The preoccupation with copious miniaturism here recalls the poetry of Marvell, Herrick, and Lovelace. In places, the marginalia document a recognition of the difficulties and uncertainties commensurate with empirical research, and even of the need to provide constructive feedback to scientific peers in order to facilitate the advancement of knowledge. For instance, next to a passage in Robert Boyle's essay on the use of the baroscope, Ramesay writes "Hee's extremely perplexed & findings led by accidents" (p. 239).

Henry Oldenburg originally envisaged the journal as a "philosophical commonplace book": a shared repository of knowledge designed to foster strong collaboration between members of the Society and a broader network of European intellectuals, who had hitherto corresponded largely via letters. The annotations in the present volume give an insight into Ramesay's attitudes towards the medium of print as a means of transmitting scientific knowledge. He writes approvingly next to a passage discussing Boyle's decision to present several copies of An Experimental History of Cold to the Society so that its members can practice and refine the experiments themselves, deeming this "An ingenious arrang[emen]t indeed" (p. 8). Notably, Ramesay takes pains to write out the names of contributors in full when only the initials are printed, demonstrating the superlative importance of forging personal social connections amongst the Restoration scientific community.

The volume also has interesting later provenance. The engraved bookplate and gilt stamp on the upper cover are of William Courtenay, 2^nd Viscount Courtenay and 8^th Earl of Devon (British Armorial Bindings Stamp 1). It has not been established whether Ramesay himself had a direct biographical connection with the Earls of Devon, though he is known to have resided in Plymouth from 1668 onwards. The Earls of Devon are also known to have owned a first edition of Hooke's Micrographia (most recently sold Sotheby's New York, 15 June 2006, lot 104).

PROVENANCE:

William Ramesey (1627-1676?), astrologer and physician-in-ordinary to Charles II: ownership inscription to title-page and marginalia throughout; William Courtenay, 2^nd Viscount Courtenay (1742-1788): gilt stamp to upper cover and engraved bookplate; Earls of Devon, by descent, sale in these rooms, 15 February 1960, lot 101 (part lot)

LITERATURE:

Horblit 95b; PMM 148; USTC N741-1000; ESTC P6614; Patrick Curry, "Ramesey [Ramsay], William", ODNB