Electric meteorology... on the cause of rain, storms, the aurora and terrestrial magnetism. With 3 other works on the subject

1887. Rowell, George Augustus (1804-92). Electric meteorology [cover title]. 8vo. Bound collection of previously issued pamphlets, irregularly paginated as usual. 3 plates (2 fold.). Oxford: Printed for the author, 1887. 207 x 135 mm. Original cloth, title in gilt on front cover, light wear to extremities, minor spotting on back cover. Tear in one plate, light foxing & browning, but very good.

First Collected Edition. Rowell, a largely self-educated meterologist, believed that electricity was the principal agent in all weather-related phenomena. He published numerous pamphlets, letters, etc. advancing his meteorological theories; some of these, particularly his Essay on the Cause of Rain (1859), were well received by the scientific community. Toward the end of his life he had collections of his papers bound up in book form; these apparently varied in content, since our collection, containing 15 papers, differs from both the 18-paper collection catalogued by the University of Colorado, Boulder (cited in OCLC) and the 17-paper collection at Yale catalogued in NUC. These two copies are the only ones in North American libraries cited in these bibliographic sources.

The major works in our collection include Rowell's Electric Meteorology: A Letter to the Right Hon. Earl of Carnarvon . . . on the Cause of Rain, Storms, the Aurora and Terrestrial Magnetism (1887); Electric Meteorology versus the Meteorological Theories of the Day (1885; with 1886 supplement); On the Cause of Terrestrial Magnetism (1885); A Lecture on the Storm in Wiltshire (1860); and On the Storm in the Isle of Wight, Sept. 28, 1876, and on the Causes of Storms (1876). DNB. See Wheeler Gift 1500, 2389 and 3839 (all included in this collection).

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