New Bedford, Mass. — In June 2023, a rare 1881 copy of James Clerk Maxwell’s An Elementary Treatise on Electricity turned up in a West Virginia library. In remarkably good condition, the book was returned to its original library in New Bedford. The book was last checked out in what looks like 1908, making it 115 years overdue.
This is the copy of Maxwell’s “An Elementary Treatise on Electricity” from 1881, recently returned to New Bedford.
The story of this book has gained widespread attention because of its late return, being covered by the Associated Press, The Boston Globe, The New York Times, and other news outlets. Because of the historical significance to EEs, I visited the New Bedford Free Public Library on July 12, 2023 for a firsthand look and feel. I had seen the headline in the Times and Globe, at first thinking is was just another book, a novel perhaps. Seeing the book’s title in the New York Times changed everything from an EE’s perspective.
As books go, James Clerk Maxwell’s “An Elementary Treatise on Electricity” is hardly a household name, but it has gained renewed attention after a copy was returned last month to a Massachusetts library nearly 120 years overdue.
— Orlando Mayorquin, The New York Times, July 9, 2023
While Maxwell’s content is readily available, having been reprinted many times including Volume 1, this copy from 1881, published, is rare. The Treatise was originally published in 1873 though the copy in New Bedford was published in 1881, two years after Maxwell’s death. A stamping on the title page shows that New Bedford library acquired the book in 1882. You can see this and other photographs on page 2 of this article.
The video contains an exclusive interview with library director Olivia Melo, who explained how the book was recently discovered in West Virginia and returned to New Bedford. Because the book was legally still the property of the New Bedford Free Public Library, it was returned. Unfortunately, we can’t be sure when it was last checked out because the year of the last stamping is unreadable. The next-to-last stamp says Feb. 14, 1908, so we know that the last stamp can’t be earlier. I believe that stamp was made twice, maybe even three times. I’ll assume February 14, 1908, was the last time the book was checked out. See the photo at right (click to enlarge) and see for yourself.
Maxwell, of course, used theory, experiments, and knowledge from predecessors such as Faraday, Gauss, Ampere, and Ohm to formulate his famous equations that describe the behavior of electricity and magnetism. He’s best known in the EE world for Maxwell’s Equations four fundamental equations, which explain how electricity and magnetism behave. The original eight equations were reduced to four and stand as the pillars for EMI measurements, radio, and just about everything else.
In the video, you’ll also see one of the plates showing a diagram of the magnetic field strength that Maxwell describes. With that page open, I read the words of Joseph P. Keithley in his chapter on Maxwell from The Story of Electrical and Magnetic Measurements. Keithley describes Maxwell as a “genius.” I describe him as an “electrical hero.”
After photographing pages from the book, I spoke again with director Melo, who emphasized the need for libraries. Without them, this book would have been lost, probably forever. This time, Maxwell’s book will remain in the library’s archives. You can go there and see it for yourself, but not remove it from the building.
The next page contains more photographs of Maxwell’s Treatise.
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Holding the 1881 copy of Maxwell’s Treatise felt like going back in time. Do you have a copy of Maxwell’s work?