The Curious Life of Robert Hooke: The Man who Measured London

HarperCollins, 2003-09-15. 1st Edn. 1st Imp. FNL.. Hardcover. F/F/VG++. Box X31 HARDBACK ""FEATURED ON BBC RADIO 4,"" SHIPPED FROM THE UK* Edition: 1st.* Impression: 1st. FNL.* Date: 2003.* Pub: HarperCollins.* Binding and cover condition: Dark maroon cloth covered boards with gilt title to spine strip, not to face. No bumps or rubs, no other visible faults. FINE* Jacket condition: Colour illustrated dust wrapper showing a portrait by Mary Beale (1623-1699). Gilt & white titles to spine and face. (Spine slightly faded). Not Price clipped showing a shelf price of £25.00. No visible shelf wear. Now in a clear un-attached protective wrapper.VG++* Contents condition: PRIVATE COPY NOT EX-LIBRARY. Printed and coloured end papers showing London as a mass of buildings. Clean, crisp, tight and bright with no reading wear, no marks to text, no tanning or other visible faults. Very slightly dusty to top edge. FINE* Illustrations: 3 x 4pp blocks of b/w & colour photos with several additional b/w illustrations within text.* Pages: 323 pp. text. 99 pp. notes, acknowledgements index & blank pages at rear.* Description: The curious life of Robert Hooke, the ""Man who Measured London."" The brilliant, largely forgotten maverick Robert Hooke was an engineer, surveyor, architect and inventor who was appointed London's Chief Surveyor after the Great Fire of 1666. Throughout the 1670's he worked tirelessly with his intimate friend Christopher Wren to rebuild London. He was the first Curator of Experiments at the Royal Society, and author and illustrator of Micrographia, a lavishly illustrated volume of fascinating engravings of natural phenomena as seen under the new ""microscope."" He designed and early balance spring watch, was a virtuoso performer of public anatomical dissections of animals, and kept himself going with liberal doses of cannabis and poppy water (laudanum).* A VIRTUALLY FINE copy of the 1st./1st. fnl. with slight spine fade reducing it to VG++. Now in a clear un-attached protective wrapper.* 0