8vo. In two volumes. vi, [4], 427, [1], 24; [6], 499pp, [1]. With an engraved frontispiece to each volume, one further engraved plate, six engraved illustrations in the text, and a terminal catalogue of publisher's advertisements to Vol. I. Original publisher's purple cloth, stamped in gilt and blind. Lightly rubbed and marked, spines sunned. Early inked ownership inscriptions to front endpapers, scattered spotting.

The first edition of the biography of English scientist Michael Faraday (1791-1867), written by chemist and physician Henry Bence Jones (1813-1873). Faraday, best known for his work on electromagnetism, would give his name to the Faraday Effect, the first experimental evidence indicating a connection between light and electromagnetism.