Science writer Carl Zimmer leads the way to seeing Robert Hooke’s 17th century classic Micrographia online.
Carl Zimmer’s article “The Most Ingenious Book” gives us a little background on the 1665 classic tome. Robert Hooke was quite the fellow, as you’ll find out from the Who2 biography. An inventive mechanic, finding ways to see the micro-world was only one of his accomplishments.
The book is free online, and Zimmer provides a few resources, from Google Books to this brief slideshow from the National Library of Medicine.
Another good source not mentioned by Zimmer is the Posner Memorial Collection, where you can see better images, one page at a time.