A Text-Book on Natural Philosophy
John William Draper, M.D., LL.D.
New York: Harper & Brothers, [ca. 1851–1853].
Octavo. Original calf/cloth binding (worn), publisher’s endpapers with Harper & Brothers “Books for Schools and Colleges” catalogue. Text arranged as a full course of Lectures I–LXXX+, beginning with Constitution of Matter and running through Mechanics, Heat, Light, Electricity, Magnetism, and Astronomy (e.g., “Lecture LVIII: The Fixed Stars”). Toned, with scattered foxing; old damp tide-lines to prelims; joints cracked and spine leather perished with loss—textblock holding. A solid, complete antebellum American science textbook from the era when “natural philosophy” embraced both physics and astronomy.
About the author. Physician-chemist John William Draper (1811–1882) was a pioneering American scientist and educator (Hampton-Sydney & New York University). His school and college texts—issued by Harper in many editions—helped standardize mid-19th-century science instruction across the United States.
Why collectors care. Draper’s textbooks are foundational in the history of American scientific education and are frequently cited in studies of how physics/astronomy were taught before the Civil War. Copies with intact Harper catalogues, as here, nicely document period book marketing to schools.
Condition: Fair only: heavy exterior wear with spine losses and exposed backstrip; hinges tender; text generally clean/legible with expected foxing and some damp staining; complete.
