A Manual of Chemistry, on the basis of Professor Brande's; containing the principal facts of the science.

Boston:: Richardson & Lord, 1826., 1826. 8vo. xi, 603 pp. 9 plates (pl. VI bound facing p. 444, pls. VIII & IX bound after advertisement at front); cellophane tape repairs applied to verso of a few plates, other effected by worm trails (also in index sec.). Original boards, amateurish rebacking with modern calf; edges worn, title and inner joints reinforced with cloth tape, free endleaves replaced with blue sheets (facing original marbled pastedowns). Foxing. Untrimmed copy. Ownership signatures of James A. Johnston, August, 1829, with his initials on the leaf of "Explanation of Plates VIII and IX"; James A. Johnston. RARE. FIRST EDITION. John White Webster, was Lecturer on Chemistry at Harvard University. Webster was described by Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. as "pleasant in the lecture room, rather nervous and excitable." [I. Bernard Cohen, Some Early Tools of American Science, (1950)]. However, his promising career was cut short in 1849-50 after he was charged and hanged for the murder of George Parkman over an unpaid debt in a highly sensationalized crime that rocked the city of Boston. PROVENANCE: James A. [or "S."] Johnston (signed twice), 1829. See: Report of the case of John W. Webster . . . indicted for the murder of George Parkman . . . before the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts; including the hearing on the petition for a writ of error, the prisoner's confessional statements and application for a commutation of sentence, and an appendix containing several interesting matters never before published. by George Bemis. Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1850. FULL TITLE: A Manual of Chemistry, on the basis of Professor Brande's; containing the principal facts of the science, arranged in the order in which they are discussed and illustrated in the lectures at Harvard University, N.E. Compiled from the works of Brande, Henry, Berzelius, Thomson and others. Designed as a text book for the use of students, and persons attending lectures on chemistry.