Concerning coffee
Date
9 May 1687
Creator
Unknown, Artist
Object type
Archive reference number
Manuscript page number
p5
Material
Dimensions
height (page): 171mm
width (page): 144mm
width (page): 144mm
Subject
Description
Printed images (seven figures) of coffee beans. In a letter from Antoni van Leeuwenhoek to the Royal Society.
Fig. 1: flour-like substance of seed
Fig. 2: nut or rind of coffeebean
Fig. 3: nut or rind, half way opened
Fig. 4: coffeebean lying flat side up
Fig. 5: sliver of young plant
Fig. 6: plant without the germ, with leaves splayed
Fig. 7: small flake of coffeebean.
Fig. 1: flour-like substance of seed
Fig. 2: nut or rind of coffeebean
Fig. 3: nut or rind, half way opened
Fig. 4: coffeebean lying flat side up
Fig. 5: sliver of young plant
Fig. 6: plant without the germ, with leaves splayed
Fig. 7: small flake of coffeebean.
Object history
At the meeting of the Royal Society on 4 May 1687, 'Part of a letter of Mr. Leewenhoeck of May 9, 1687, N.S. was read, containing some microscopical observation on the structure or constituent parts of the mealy pabulum of plants, included together with the embryo plants in the husk of the seed. This he had found in the kernel of a medlar-stone to consist of nothing else but conglomerated globules. The rest of this letter was ordered to be translated' (Birch 4:534).
At the meeting of the Royal Society on 25 May 1687, ‘A letter of Mr. Leewenhoeck’s was read concerning coffee, first as to the growth and texture of the coffee-berry, wherein he found very much oil to be contained; in which oil he conceived the principal virtue of the coffee to lie; and prosecuting that notion he gave direction for roasting the berry, and making coffee drink after the best manner. In the conclusion he said, that the coffee-berries grow on a tree as big as our lime-trees, as he had been credibly informed’ (Birch 4:540).
Printed images taken from a published version of the letter (the same plate is in the Dutch and Latin versions):
Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, Vervolg der Brieven, geschreven aan de Wytvermaarde Koninglijke Societeit tot Londen (Leiden: C. Boutesteijn, 1687), pp. 17-26.
Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, Continuatio Epistolarum (Leiden: Boutesteyn 1689), pp. 13-19.
At the meeting of the Royal Society on 25 May 1687, ‘A letter of Mr. Leewenhoeck’s was read concerning coffee, first as to the growth and texture of the coffee-berry, wherein he found very much oil to be contained; in which oil he conceived the principal virtue of the coffee to lie; and prosecuting that notion he gave direction for roasting the berry, and making coffee drink after the best manner. In the conclusion he said, that the coffee-berries grow on a tree as big as our lime-trees, as he had been credibly informed’ (Birch 4:540).
Printed images taken from a published version of the letter (the same plate is in the Dutch and Latin versions):
Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, Vervolg der Brieven, geschreven aan de Wytvermaarde Koninglijke Societeit tot Londen (Leiden: C. Boutesteijn, 1687), pp. 17-26.
Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, Continuatio Epistolarum (Leiden: Boutesteyn 1689), pp. 13-19.
Related fellows
Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632 - 1723, Dutch) , Naturalist
Associated place