DESCRIPTION OF A SPEEDY ELEVATOR. By the Inventor, Nicholas Collin, D.D. with two drawings from a model representing it folded and wound up. [Together with]: A DESCRIPTION OF THE BONES DEPOSITED, BY THE PRESIDENT, IN THE MUSEUM OF THE SOCIETY, and represented in the annexed plates. By C. Wistar, M.D. [From the "Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, volume IV"]. by Collin, Nicholas [Nils]; and Wistar, Caspar - [1799].

[Philadelphia: Printed and Sold by Thomas Dobson], [1799]., [1799].. Very good. ILLUSTRATED WITH 3 ENGRAVED PLATES, INCLUDING 2 FOLDING - Quarto, 11-3/4 inches high by 9-3/8 inches wide. Unbound signatures from the "Transactions of the American Philosophical Society". 13 deckle-edged pages in all, with large uncut & untrimmed margins, consisting of pages 519 to 531. Illustrated with 3 full-page plates, including a plate depicting the folded and deployed states of Collin's speedy elevator engraved by Smither and two 11-3/8 inch high by 16-3/4 inch wide folding plates of bones engraved by James Akin. There is some faint minor foxing and the overlapping edges of the pages are lightly chipped. Very good.

Unbound sheets from volume 4 of the "Transactions of the American Philosophical Society".

Two works with Nicholas Collin's "Description of a Speedy Elevator" consisting of pages 519 through 525 and Caspar Wistar's "Description of Bones" consisting of pages 526 through 531.

The Swedish inventor Nicholas [Nils] Collin (1746-1831) was the pastor of the Gloria Dei Church in Philadelphia. He designed a "speedy elevator" which could be easily folded and stored as a fast way to ascend the heights. His elevator could be used as a fire ladder, for raising a light, or for military reconnaissance. "Elevation of a person for taking views, and a quick descent when required; as on reconnoitering an enemy within shot: a machine for lifting him at least one hundred feet by eight men can be light enough for carrying on a waggon by two horses."

According to a column published in the May 1952 issue of the "Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians": "The elevator designed by the Reverend Nicholas Collin of Philadelphia rates some kind of priority among early American examples. His paper and a model were presented before the American Philosophical Society on December 2, 1791 and honored by award of the Magellanean gold medal in December, 1795. The copperplate ... was published in Volume IV of the Society's Transactions (1799) with an elaborate description of its design and operation...."

The American physician and anatomist Caspar Wistar (1761-1818) was first educated at the Friends' school in Philadelphia. He became interested in medicine after caring for the wounded at the Revolutionary War Battle of Germantown and went on to study medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and subsequently the University of Edinburgh, achieving his degree in 1786. While in Scotland, he served as president of the Royal Medical Society of Edinburgh. He returned to practice medicine in Philadelphia and was a professor with the University of Pennsylvania. He was appointed chair of anatomy following Dr. William Shippen, Jr.'s death. In 1797, Thomas Jefferson announced the discovery of the remains of a large quadruped in Virginia. Thinking it was a large cat-like animal, Jefferson called it a Megalonyx (Giant Claw). After studying the bones, Wistar wrote an anatomical essay which correctly suggested the remains resembled those of a large sloth. Wistar went on to succeed Thomas Jefferson as president of the American Philosophical Society. The Wisteria, a flowering vine, was named in his memory by his friend the botanist Thomas Nuttall.