THE INTRODUCTORY LECTURE OF THOMAS COOPER, Esq., Professor of Chemistry at Carlisle College, Pennsylvania. Published at the Request of the Trustees, with Notes and References.

CARLISLE [Pennsylvania]: Printed by Archibald Loudon, 1812. First edition.

SIGNED and INSCRIBED by THOMAS COOPER to CASPAR WISTAR on the Title-Page: "Mr. Cooper / To Mr. Wistar". CASPAR WISTAR was a friend of THOMAS COOPER and THOMAS JEFFERSON.

There are a few HAND CORRECTIONS by COOPER. There is a margin note and text correction on page 23, specifically "have already mentioned" is lined out at the end of page 23 and the beginning of page 24, and "shall assign in the notes" is handwritten in the bottom margin of page 23; also on page 23 "or" is changed to "of" and "are" is changed to "is"; the name "Accum" is lined out on page 88 (likely the French chemist Friedrich Accum); and the word "ruttlandis" is lined out and replaced with the handwritten correct spelling "rutilandis".

Hardcovers, marbled-paper covered boards, leather spine and corners, 5.5x8.5 inches (13x21.5 cm), viii, 236 pages, plus 2 front and 2 rear blank leaves.

Condition: The front and rear covers are present but disbound (i.e. laid on loosely), the spine leather is cracked, faded and worn but is still bound onto the text block except for 1/4 inch chipped off at the bottom, the spine lettering is mostly faded away but can be read upon close inspection. Internally, there is cockling and foxing throughout but the pages remain solid and the text is fully legible, the bottom corner of the leaf consisting of pages 107/108 is torn off, not affecting text, the inner hinge is starting to split at a few places but the binding is holding well, the ink inscription and corrections are oxidizing (see photos).

A RARE and IMPORTANT piece of AMERICANA.

About Thomas Cooper (from Wikipedia):

******Thomas Cooper, b.1759 d.1839, was an Anglo-American economist, college president and political philosopher. Cooper was described by Thomas Jefferson as "one of the ablest men in America" and by John Adams as "a learned ingenious scientific and talented madcap." Dumas Malone stated that "modern scientific progress would have been impossible without the freedom of the mind which he championed throughout life." His ideas were taken very seriously.

In addition to Thomas Jefferson, he was friends with James Madison and several Governors of South Carolina. As a philosopher he was a follower of David Hartley, Erasmus Darwin, Priestley, and François-Joseph-Victor Broussais; he was a physiological materialist, and a severe critic of Scottish metaphysics.

Later in life, Cooper became an ardent and outspoken defender of slavery, and personally owned several slaves.******

About CASPAR WISTAR (from Wikipedia):

******Caspar Wistar, b.1761 d.1818, was an American physician and anatomist. He was born in Philadelphia, the son of Richard Wistar and Sarah Wyatt. He was the grandson of Caspar Wistar, a German immigrant, Quaker and glassmaker.

Wistar was a friend of Thomas Jefferson, with whom he worked to identify bones of the megalonyx and through whom he tutored Meriwether Lewis, including recommendations for scientific inquiry on the Lewis and Clark expedition.

Wistar was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1803. In 1808 he was given the Chair of Anatomy at the University of Pennsylvania, which he retained until his death.

The Wistar Institute at UPenn was named in his honor.******