THE PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON
Unabridged
Commenced in 1665, as a periodical, by H. Oldenberg, first Secretary of the Society, and continued by him up to June 1677. Afterwards, successively edited by N. Grew, R. Plot, W. Musgrave, R. Walker, Sir H. Sloane, E. Halley, C. Mortimer, and other Secretaries, up to March 1752, when the publication began to be superintended by a Committee of the Royal Society. From 1665 to 1678, the publication was regularly made, with exception of six months between 1677 and 1678.
The title-page, “Philosophical Transactions giving some account of the present undertakings, studies and labours of the Ingenious in many considerable parts of the world,” was maintained up to the sixty-sixth volume, for year 1776, when it gave place to “The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London.”
From 1679 to 1682, no volumes appeared, the lacunæ being (partly) made up through the seven numbers of “Philosophical Collections” issued by Robert Hooke (Nos. 1–7, one volume 4to).
From 1683 to the present time, the publication has gone on uniformly, with exception of years 1688–1690, during which nothing was published, and of years 1691–1692, the proceedings of which appear in a volume (sometimes marked Vol. 16 and sometimes Vol. 17), containing the numbers 192–195.
Reference to “The Bibliographer’s Manual,” by Wm. Thomas Lowndes (London, 1863, Part VIII. pp. 2143–2146) and to Samuel H. Scudder’s “Catalogue of Scientific Serials” (Cambridge, Mass., 1879, p. 27) will show how the different unabridged volumes have been made up, viz. Vols. 1–65 cover the years 1665–1775; Vols. 66–81 cover the years 1776–1791; Vols. 82–142 cover the years 1792–1852; Vols. 143–166 cover the years 1853–1876.
Regular dates followed up to Vol. 177, issued 1886–1887, since when the publication has appeared in two series, viz. A (Physical) and B (Biological). The volumes now running are A 220, B 210.
In addition to the above, there have appeared, amongst many publications:
“A General Index ... to all the Philosophical Transactions from the beginning to July 1677,” London, 1678.