Gehlen, Adolf Ferdinand, ed.; Journal für die Chemie und Physik....und Mineralogie. Berlin, Realschulbuchhandlung, 1806 & 1807 & 1808. Octavo, Bd. 1, heft 1-4, pp. 720, 10 folded plates (2 hand colored of minerals). Bd 3, heft 1-4. pp. 734, 30, 7 folded plates. Bd. 5, heft 1-4, pp. 746 (mispagination with pages 117-130 after page 746), 7 folded plates. In original boards, gilt spine titles, light wear to board edges, small lib. stamp verso of title pages, light foxing, very good. Rare early scientific journal.

Gehlen (1775-1815)], the son of an apothecary [and the editor of these two volumes], grew up in the period when apothacaries were making a major contribution to the sciences. "The last decades of the eighteenth century and the first of the nineteenth century constituted a high point in the development of pharmacy in Germany. Many of them worked with great enthusiasm in areas far beyond the narrow confines of their profession. After three years Gehlen entered the University of Königsberg, where he studied eight modern languages and subjects related to pharmacy, so that he was later able to correspond with scientists throughout the world. After working briefly with Klaproth in Berlin, Gehlen was hired by Valentine Rose, another former student of Karl Gottfried Hagen. Together they edited the first six volumes of the Neues Berliner Jahrbuch für die Pharmazie (1803-1806). At the same time Gehlen took over the editorship of the Allgemeines Journal der Chemie from Alexander Nikolaus Scherer, when the latter was appointed professor at the University of Dorpat. After publishing six volumes from 1803 to 1806 under the title Neues allgemenies Journal der Chemie, he expanded its scope and renamed it Journal für Chemie, Physik und Mineralogie. Gehlen was very strict in selecting articles, accepting only those that corresponded to the title of the journal and avoiding any overlap with other periodicals. Most of the articles Gehlen published were original, although he also included important foreign works that he himself had translated. Each volume of the journal contained an extensive bibliography, as well as a lively correspondence section that was much appreciated by its readers.