The auction catalog of Isaac Beeckman's library (1637), on the occasion of the quadricentennial of the molecular theory
Edition: First edition
Publisher: Groningen University Press
Published: 2025
Place of publication: Groningen, Netherlands
Language: eng
Format: Paperback Hard cover
Number of pages: 240
ISBN-13: 9789083223117
Copyright date: 2025
Description: The book reproduces, in Chapter II, the auction catalog of Isaac Beeckman's library, dated July 14, 1637. A  copy of this catalog -- a unique copy ! -- was discovered by the present author in 1988 in the collections of the Bibliotheca Angelica (Rome). This discovery was duly reported in the literature  (Revue d'Histoire des Sciences 42 (1/2) 173-175 (1989); De Zeventiende Eeuw 4 (2) 81-82 (1988); ISIS Annual Bibliography 1992). With some delay the book is published on the occasion of the 4th centenary of the molecular theory, an invention by Beeckman (dated September 14, 1620). It fully identifies, in Chapter III, almost all 562 titles involved  and provides reproductions of some 70 title pages as illustrations. Chapter IV, then, gives an impression on main lines of Beeckman's library, both quantitatively and qualitatively. Not unexpectedly, Beeckman possessed several editions of Lucretius' didactic poem devoted to Epicurus' atomic theory, among which the two most authoritative of the time (Lambinus, 1583; Gifanius, 1585)> The book is closed with an Índex of names'.
Table of contents: label: Preface
title: vii-xxiii; label: Chapter I
title: The fourth centenary of the molecular theory
pagenum: 1; label: 1.1
title: Introduction
pagenum: 1; label: 1.2
title: Atoms and secondary items; Lucretius
pagenum: 2; label: 1.3
title: Atoms and molecules; Isaac Beeckman (1620)
pagenum: 3; label: 1.4
title: Beeckman's legacy: Georg Ernst Stahl
pagenum: 5; label: 1.5
title: Lavoisier
pagenum: 8; label: 1.6
title: From Dalton to Cannizzaro and Kekulé
pagenum: 12; label: 1.7
title: Conclusion
pagenum: 15; label: 1.6
title: Acknowledgments
pagenum: 15; label: 1.9
title: Bibliography
pagenum: 15; label: Chapter II
title: The auction catalog of Beeckman's library (1637)
pagenum: 17; label: Chapter III
title: Beeckman's books identified
pagenum: 41; title: Libri Theologi in folio
pagenum: 41; title: Libri Theologi in quarto
pagenum: 50; title: Libri Theologi in 8vo, 12mo, 16mo
pagenum: 62; title: Libri Medici in folio
pagenum: 78; title: Libri Medici in quarto
pagenum: 80; title: Libri  Medici in octavo
pagenum: 82; title: Libri Medici in duodecimo
pagenum: 90; title: Libri  Philosophi, Historici, &c. in folio
pagenum: 94; title: Libri Philosophi, Historici &c. in quarto
pagenum: 108; title: Libri  Miscellanei in octavo
pagenum: 122; title: Libri Miscellanei in 12mo, 16mo
pagenum: 166; title: Some extra packages
pagenum: 180; label: Chapter IV
title: Assessing Beeckman's Catalogus librorum
pagenum: 181; label: 4.1
title: Introduction
pagenum: 181; label: 4.2
title: Beeckman's library; a first impression
pagenum: 185; label: 4.3
title: Matter and substances
pagenum: 191; label: Index of names
title: 197