1744 NATURAL HISTORY of the POLYPES ILLUSTRATED w/ 22 engraved plates ANTIQUE

NATURAL HISTORY of the POLYPES

by BAKER, Henry (1698-1774).


Essai sur l'histoire du polype, insecte.


Paris: Chez Durand, 1744.

8vo: 4 3/4 by 7 1/4"  (172   x 116 mm).


22 engraved folding plates.


Title soiled with old tear repaired.

viii, [1]-359 pp.


Later half morocco and cloth with spine and red leather label decorated in gilt, uncut.  

Text in French



FIRST EDITION IN FRENCH of Baker's work first published in 1743 in English, in which he examines the physiology of the polyps, including their reproductive systems, diseases, and the means of locating them. Wellcome II, p.8.

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Henry Baker (1698 – 1774) was a British naturalist.

He was born in Chancery Lane, London, 8 May 1698, the son of William Baker, a clerk in chancery. In his fifteenth year he was apprenticed to John Parker, a bookseller. At the close of his indentures in 1720, Baker went on a visit to John Forster, a relative, who had a deaf-mute daughter, then eight years old. As a successful therapist of deaf people, he went on to make money, by a system that he kept secret. His work as therapist caught the attention of Daniel Defoe, whose youngest daughter Sophia he married on 30 April 1729.

In 1740 he was elected fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and of the Royal Society.
In 1744 he received the Copley gold medal for microscopical observations on the crystallization of saline particles.

He was one of the founders of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce in 1754 (later the Society of Arts), and for some time acted as its secretary. He died in London, and was buried at St Mary le Strand.

Under the name of Henry Stonecastle, Baker was associated with Daniel Defoe in starting the Universal Spectator and Weekly Journal in 1728. Defoe in fact did little except at the launch of the publication, intended as an essay-sheet rather than a newspaper.
It appeared until 1746, running to 907 issues.

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