June 2021 Catalogue

16 S c i e n c e & M e d i c i n e • J u n e 2 0 2 1 “A Pioneer Work…Well Ahead Of Its Time” 14. JEVONS, William Stanley. The Principles of Science: A Treatise on Logic and Scientific Method. London, 1874. Two volumes. Octavo, original brick cloth. $2100. Click for more info First edition of Jevons’ seminal treatise on logic and the scientific method, with engraved illustration and detailed description of his “logical piano”—“the first logic machine with enough power to solve complicated problems with superhuman speed” (Hook & Norman). “The wide range not only of Jevons’ interests but of his important contributions to knowledge is as remarkable as his path-breaking, fundamental originality of thought... The Principles of Science (1874) has been recognized as a pioneer work, in important respects well ahead of its time. Especially notable was his development of the fundamentals of formal logic on the lines of George Boole, and his construction of a machine, still extant… for the mechanical solution of deductive problems—an anticipation of modern computing machines [depicted on the frontispiece]…Jevonsalsodeveloped thehypothetico-deductiveapproach, expounded more recently by Karl Popper, in that he rejected the Baconian conception of scientific enquiry as starting from the accumulation of facts, and stressed the role of conjectures and hypotheses. ‘Inductive investigation’ he wrote, ‘consists in the union of hypothesis and experiment’” (IESS). Early owner signatures. Cloth of rear joint of Volume I with one inch split, inner hinges expertly reinforced, occasional light foxing. A near-fine copy in original cloth. “We only learn the laws and relations of things in nature by observing those things.”