With the exception of the preliminary matter and the Instructions to binder, the pagination is the same as in the edition of 1628, the pages in the body of the work being reprinted word for word; though with exceptions. For example, p. 18 in Ed. 1633 is one line shorter than in Ed. 1628. The etched plates are entirely different. It has been thought from the pagination being alike that these two editions were really the same with different plates, titles, and preliminary matter. But they are really different. The spacing of the words, letters and lines is different throughout, and there are different misprints. The watermarks of the paper also differ.
IV. (THE BERLIN "FACSIMILE" FOLIO OF 1892.) This is a photozincograph reproduction of the London folio of 1600. It lacks the ink emendations on pages 11, 22, 47, &c., found in the original, and is wanting also in some of the asterisks in the margins.
V. (THE AMERICAN TRANSLATION OF 1893.) Frontispiece portrait || _p. i. title_ WILLIAM GILBERT | OF COLCHESTER, | physician of London, | on the | Loadstone and Magnetic Bodies, | and on | the great magnet the earth. | A new Physiology, | demonstrated with many arguments and experiments. | A translation by | P. Fleury Mottelay, | ... | New York: | John Wiley & Sons, | 53 East Tenth Street | 1893. || _p. ii_ bears imprint of Ferris Bros. _Printers_, 326 Pearl Street, New York. || _p. iii._ reduced reproduction of title of 1600 edition || _verso_ the Gilbert arms || _p. v._ Translator's Preface || _p. ix._ Biographical Memoir || _p. xxxi._ Contents || _p. xxxvii._ Address of Edward Wright || _p. xlvii._ Author's Preface. || _p. liii._ Explanation of some terms. || pp. 1-358 text of the work. || p. 359 reduced reproduction of title of 1628 edition. || p. 360 _ditto_ of 1633 edition. || p. 361 _ditto_ of Gilbert's _De Mundo Nostro_ of 1651. || pp. 363 to 368 General Index. || Pages _xxx_, _xlvi_, _lii_, and 362 are blanks. There are no signatures. Octavo. Diagrams reduced from woodcuts of the folio of 1600. Some copies bear on title the imprint | London: | Bernard Quaritch, | 15 Piccadilly. ||
NOTES ON THE _DE MAGNETE_ OF DR. WILLIAM GILBERT.
During the work of revising and editing the English translation of _De Magnete_, many points came up for discussion, requiring critical consideration, and the examination of the writings of contemporary or earlier authorities. Discrepancies between the texts of the three known editions--the London folio of 1600, and the two Stettin quartos of 1628 and 1633 respectively--demanded investigation. Passages relating to astrology, to pharmacy, to alchemy, to geography, and to navigation, required to be referred to persons acquainted with the early literature of those branches. Phrases of non-classical Latin, presenting some obscurity, needed explanation by scholars of mediæval writings. Descriptions of magnetical experiments needed to be interpreted by persons whose knowledge of magnetism enabled them to infer the correct meaning to be assigned to the words in the text. In this wise a large amount of miscellaneous criticism has been brought to bear, and forms the basis for the following notes. To make them available to all students of Gilbert, the references are given to page and line both of the Latin folio of 1600 and of the English edition of 1900. S. P. T.