"Guyot (edmé Gilles) - New Physical And Mathematical Recreations. At Gueffier, 1769."
GUYOT (Edmé Gilles) - New physical and mathematical recreations, containing all those that have been discovered & imagined in recent times, on magnets, numbers, optics, chemistry, etc. & many others that have never been made public. Where we have added their causes, their effects, the way to construct them, & the amusement that can be drawn from them to pleasantly astonish. Paris, Chez Gueffier, 1769; in-8, XXXIV-243 + table + XII-322 + XVI-240 + table + XVI-232 pp. + table, 19th century brown half-calf bindings, decorated smooth spines, painted edges, red morocco title pieces and bottle green volume numbers. The 2 volumes. 4 volumes bound in 2. First edition of this collection of mathematical amusements dedicated to the Countess of Lamberg. It contains 73 fold-out plates (68 of which are colored), 4 fold-out plates of blackboards, and 3 plates of prices for the recreational pieces sold at Guyot's, for a total of 80 plates outside the text. Edmé-Gilles Guyot (1706–1786) was a French postal clerk, physician, postmaster, cartographer, inventor, and author on the subject of mathematics, physics, and magic. He conducted experiments on optical illusions and the theory behind magic tricks. His developments in the apparent appearance of ghosts, using the projection of a face in smoke, helped create the technology and techniques used in phantasmagoria. Guyot's four-part book Nouvelles récréations physiques et mathématiques includes descriptions of experiments and examples of the performance of various innovative mathematical and magical tricks. The book was first published in 1769 and includes an explanation of the missing square paradox based on the earlier work of Sebastiano Serlio. It also includes detailed and illustrated techniques for performing the goblet and ball trick which is considered to be highly influential. Caillet 4900.