444 pp. + 16 pp publisher's ads. (8vo) original cloth. First Edition.

With the 1859 ownership signature on front free flyleaf and title page of John LeConte, and his pencil notes on the text on rear endpaper. Then Professor of Physics and Chemistry at the University of South Carolina, LeConte moved to California ten years later to join the faculty of newly established University of California as a Physics Professor, temporarily serving as the new institution’s first acting President. In 1876, he was formally appointed the University’s second President. While less celebrated, academically, than his brother, the University’s first Professor of Geology, LeConte  made notable contributions to Physics in studies of sound waves and underwater vibrations. His 13 lines of notes in this book, especially on the biography of Herschel, reveal his early interest in astronomical observation of light rays from the sun and moon and the measurement of radiant heat. A fine association copy of a notable California scientist and educator whose autograph material is uncommon.