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Berghuis, S[ybolt].
Niederländischer Obstgarten. Le jardin fruitier Neerlandais. Groningen u. a. O., J. B. Woulters u. a., [1864-1868].
32 geheftete Lieferungen in den originalen Lieferungsumschlägen. 5 Teile mit zus. 124 chromolithogr. Tafeln. XXVI, 162 SS. 112 SS. 36 SS. 32 SS. 8, 8 SS. (2) SS. Gr.-4to (250 x 325 mm). Vollständiges Exemplar des prachtvollen pomologischen Kompendiums von Äpfeln (60 Tafeln, 162 SS.), Birnen (36 Tafeln, 112 SS.), Kirschen (8 Tafeln, 36 SS.), Pflaumen (12 Tafeln, 32 SS.), sowie Aprikosen und Pfirsichen (8 Tafeln, 8+8 SS.). Durchwegs in deutscher und französischer Sprache. Auf den 124 aufwändig gestalteten chromolithographischen Tafeln sind je zwei Ansichten und ein Querschnitt, bei Steinobst auch Kerne und Laub von zwei bis vier Obstsorten abgebildet. Das Titelblatt, die Widmung an den niederländischen König WiIlhelm III., eine Vorrede des Botanikers Karl Heinrich Koch (1809-79) und ein Vorwort des textverantwortlichen Boskooper Vereins zur Bestimmung und Veredelung der Obstsorten zu den ersten vier Teilen des Kompendiums sind der 2. Lieferung eingebunden (I-XXIV); ein zusätzliches Vorwort zu Aprikosen und Pfirsichen (XXV-XXVI) ist in der 23. Lieferung enthalten. Die 32. Lieferung enthält einen Index der Pflaumen, Aprikosen und Pfirsiche (2 SS.). - Der verantwortliche Lithograph Guillaume Severeyn (1830-1909) war Mitglied der Königlichen Akademie in Brüssel und ausgewiesener Spezialist für botanische Illustration. Sybolt Berghuis (1820-96) wirkte in Groningen als Maler, Zeichner und Aquarellist. - Provenienz: Bibliothek der evangelischen reformierten Hochschule in Budapest; als Doublette verkauft mit durchgestrichenem Bibliotheksstempel und Ausscheidungsstempel auf der 1. Tafel der 1. Lieferung (recto). - Die 1. Lieferung mit altem Wasserschaden auf dem Umschlag und allen Blättern. Die Bindungen meist lose, teils leicht braunfleckig und angeschmutzt, mit kleineren Randläsuren bzw. geknickten Seiten. Beiliegend eine Verlagsankündigung (in der 4. Lieferung) sowie ein Verlagsprogramm und drei Rechnungen von 1865 und 1868 des bedeutenden Pester Buchhändlers und Verlegers Károly Grill (in der 32. Lieferung). Vgl. Nissen, BBI 2221 (niederländ. Ausgabe).
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Thomas, Corbinian.
Mercurii Philosophici Firmamentum Firmianum. Descriptionem et usum globi artificialis coelestis. Frankfurt & Leipzig, 1730.
Oblong 4to (220 x 167 mm). Plate volume only (without the text). 84 engraved plates (13 folding) in original hand colour and gilt throughout. Contemporary half calf with giltstamped red spine label; spine attractively gilt. First edition. - A sumptuous copy in luxuriant and meticulous original colour, in nuanced hues with all the stars splendidly gilt. The plates show astronomical instruments, diagrams of cosmological theories, armillary spheres, celestial and terrestrial globes, a compass rose, a sundial, two maps of the moon, a map of Salzburg, and (in 54 engravings) the constellations of both hemispheres, including the zodiac. The plates are engraved by A. C. Fleischmann, J. C. Bernd, and J. Hering. Their Baroque iconography, mirroring the splendour of the absolutist prince in that of the celestial orb, places the work in the tradition of earlier astronomers such as Johannes Hevelius: Thomas situates a pair of stag's antlers, the armorial crest of the dedicatee, the prince-archbishop Leopold von Firmian, in the constellation of the Corona Borealis (Northern Garland), rechristening it "Corona Firmiana" in his honour. The frontispiece (fol. 2) shows Firmian's portrait. - The Benedictine monk Thomas (1694-1767) was an astronomer and mathematician, professor (in 1721), later librarian and vice-rector of the University of Salzburg. He taught Exegesis, Biblical Hermeneutics, rhetoric as well as Hebrew. - Covers rubbed; corners and spine professionally repaired using most of the original material, resewn. Endpapers somewhat soiled; handwritten ownership of Alfons Olsson (dated 7 March 1909) to front pastedown. Occasional fingerstaining to margins and a few small edge flaws; repaired tears to the folding "Tabula synoptica" and to the Virgo plate; a corner repair to fol. 12. Altogether very appealingly preserved. Cf. Wurzbach XLIV, 252. Lalande 392. Poggendorff II, 1096. Zinner (Instrumente) 535 (all citing the 1731 second edition).
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[Ottoman Atlas].
Manuscript map album of the Ottoman Empire. Ottoman Empire, ca. 1910.
Oblong 4to (264 x 195 mm). 14 leaves with 10 pen-and-ink maps, hand coloured with watercolours. Tissue guards. Full giltstamped cloth binding with tughra of Mehmed V (ruled 1908-18) on upper and "Album" on lower cover. A hand-drawn album of maps showing the western parts of the Ottoman Empire, with legends in Ottoman Turkish. Maps include northern Greece (from Macedonia to Constantinople), the Bosporus, the Dardanelles, Halkidiki, Albania, Crete, etc. - Finely preserved.
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Dillenius (Dillen), Johann Jakob.
Horti Elthamensis plantarum rariorum icones et nomina. Leiden, Cornelis Haak, 1774.
Folio. 2 vols. in one. (12) pp. With 325 engraved plates, numbered 1-147, (1), 148-324. 4 plates misbound: 6/7 and 273/274. Contemporary boards. Second expanded edition of "one of the most important of pre-Linnaean works" (Hunt): Dillen's description of plants in the great botanical garden in Eltham (London) of James Sherard, "one of the most richly stocked gardens in the world". - To this second edition the Linnaean binomal names are added on the preliminary leaves and in the present copy a contemporary hand has written these names in ink under each of the plates. The first edition, printed in London 1732 is extremely rare, only 145 copies of the plates and 500 of the original text were printed. The present second Leiden edition is praised for its very fine plates of succulents. - Johann Jakob Dillen (Dillenius) (1684-1749), was one of the important botanists of his time. He was born in Darmstadt and settled in England in 1721. James Sherard (1666-1738) was a weatlhy botanist and apothecary, whose gardens at Eltham, south of London, were famous for their exotic and rare plants from the Cape, Virginia, Mexico, the West Indies and Argentina. Sherard had visited other continental gardens and wanted to have his catalogued according to the highest scientific standard. He was able to persuade Dillen to take up this task. Many of the plants in Sherard's garden were new to science and were never illustrated before. Dillen immortalized the gardens with 325 excellent plates that illustrate 417 plants, drawn and engraved by himself. He complains in one of his letters about the high costs for meeting the demands of James Sherard without receiving any financial support from his side. However, when William Sherard died in 1728 he left a fund to the Oxford University for a professorship of botany, of which Dillen was the first holder. - "Dillen's work was highly respected by Linnaeus ... His Hortus Elthamensis (first edition 1732) may have served as a prototype for the Hortus Cliffortianus(1737)" (Stafleu, Linnaeus). The plates by Dillen were sufficiently accurate to be of considerable service to Linnaeus. In a gesture of appreciation Linnaeus named a genus of trees Dillenia. Dillen offered Linneaus his position as professor of botany at the University of Oxford, but he declined. - Wholly untrimmed with very large margins. Very many handwritten notes at the bottom of the pages, a small brown stain at the bottom of the page. Slightly rubbed and soiled but completely intact and firm. Overall in good condition. Dunthorne 94. Hunt 637. Nissen, BBI 492. Pritzel 2285. Stafleu, Linnaeus, p. 199. Stafleu-Cowan 1471.
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Hoffmann, Georg Franz.
Historia salicum iconibus illustrata. Leipzig, Siegfried Leberecht Crusius, vol. 1: 1785-1787, vol. 2: 1791.
Folio. 2 volumes. 66, (4), 67-78; 12 pp. With 24 engraved plates in vol. 1 (numbered 1-24) and 6 engraved plates in vol. 2 (numbered 25-29, 31: all published), all signed by I. Nuszbiegel after originals by the author, except plate 31, which is signed by Johann Stephan Capieux. Blue sprinkled paper over boards (vol. 1) and limp grey paper wrappers, stab-sewn through the wrappers (vol. 2). Both volumes of the first and only edition of Hoffmann's monograph on willows, published in instalments from 1785 to 1791, including the series of 30 engraved plates (numbered as 31) made to accompany them, showing willows, their branches, leaves and flowers. He describes different kinds of willows, their varieties, habitat and sizes. All descriptions refer to the plates, so that readers could use them together. - G. F. Hofmann was a German botanist and physician. He first served as professor of botany in Erlangen, then professor of botany and director of the botanical garden in Göttingen. Finally he went to Moscow, where he continued his botanical studies, taking charge of the Imperial Academy of Science's botanical garden and herbarium. - The two volumes of the "Historia salicum iconibus illustrata", including the engravings, have a turbulent publication history. Volume 1, in 4 instalments, was actually issued in two parts: instalments 1 and 2 (pp. 1-48), together with plates 1-5 and 6-10 respectively, appeared between February and June 1785. Instalments 3 and 4 (pp. 49-78), together with plates 11-16 and 17-24 respectively, probably in September or October 1786, the 4th instalment also including the title-page for the entire vol. I. Volume 2 appeared nearly four years later, between January and June 1791, together with plates 25-29 and 31. Plate 30 is never mentioned in the text or bibliographies, so it was apparently never published or was misnumbered “31”. - With manuscript owner's inscriptions on the title-page of instalment 1 and on the title-page of vol. 1. With the title-page to vol. 1 misbound between instalments 3 and 4. Binding of vol. 1 slightly worn, corners bumped. Paper wrappers of vol. 2 slightly frayed at the corners. With a small professional restoration to the foot of the spine. With some minor stains in each volume, but still in good condition. Both volumes, rarely found together, of a remarkable monograph on willows, with all the plates. Hunt II, 678. Johnston 565. Nissen BBI 893. Pritzel 4127. Stafleu & Cowan II, 2879.
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L'Héritier de Brutelle, Charles-Louis.
Sertum Anglicum, seu Plantae Rariores quae in Hortis juxta Londinum, imprimis in Horto Regio Kewensi Excoluntur, ab anno 1786 ad annum 1787 observatae. Paris, P. Fr. Didot, 1788.
Large folio. (4), 20 pp. With 35 engraved botanical plates (8 folding), 20 drawn by Pierre-Joseph Redouté, 1 each by J. P. and L. J. Redouté, 10 by James Sowerby, 2 by J. G. Bruyière, and 1 by B. Pernotin. Engraved by Fr. Hubert, Maleuvre, Juillet, J. B. Guyard, Stephane Voysard and Milsan. Contemporary half red roan (sheepskin), blue paper sides, green parchment corners. Preserved in custom-made box. Second edition, usually called the second issue, of a flower art book by the French botanist Charles Louis L'Héritier de Brutelle (1746-1800). In this book, L'Héritier describes 35 genera and 124 species of rare plants in Kew Gardens and the herbarium of his fellow botanist Joseph Banks, which he studied in 1786 together with Pierre Joseph Redouté. His text also refers to the 35 plates, which depict some of the flowers. L'Héritier mostly describes horticultural plants, including many exotic plants from South Africa. Most of the plates were provided by the two most gifted botanical artists of the age: the Frenchman Pierre Joseph Redouté and the Englishman James Sowerby. - The "Sertum Anglicum" was published as a token of the author's gratitude for the hospitality shown by Banks and other fellow botanists on his visit to England. Remarkably, 13 genera and 65 species of exotic plants are here described for the first time. Furthermore, no fewer than 31 of the plates are the first published illustrations of the species, and seven remain the only illustration of the species ever published. The book therefore remains an irreplaceable botanical reference work today, beyond its value as a work of botanical art of the highest quality, containing beautiful flower illustrations by two of the greatest masters of all time. - Although the imprint gives 1788 as the year of publication, Stafleu & Cowan call the present version of the "Sertum Anglicum" both a "reprint" and a "reissue", probably published as a whole after L'Héritier's death in 1800. It differs from the earlier version in the number of pages for the main text. The first version was published in five parts with the entire letterpress text in part 1. Its main text occupies 35 pages, while the main text of the present second version occupies 20 pages. But the title-page and the other preliminary leaf are apparently true reissues of the first printing, for both are dated 1788 and have the same imprint (giving the printer as Pierre-François Didot, although he died in 1795, and the same booksellers). While the imprint of the first issue suggests that it was printed and published as a whole in 1788, it was actually published in five parts between 1789 and 1792: in early January 1789 (the complete text and plates 1-2), May 1790 (plates 3-12), April 1792 (plates 13-24 & 15 bis) and late in 1792 (plates 25-34), respectively. Some types on the "1788" title-page were also out of date by 1800. - With a hand-written inscription on the first endleaf. Binding, especially the edges, slightly rubbed; the paper sides are slightly discoloured. With only a few stains and the edges of the paper slightly frayed. Spine professionally reinforced. A large paper copy of a rare work in good condition. Dunthorne 248. Great Flower Books 65. Hunt 692. Nissen (BBI) 1189. Pritzel 5270. Stafleu/Cowan 4492.
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Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von.
Zur Farbenlehre. Nebst einem Hefte mit sechzehn Kupfertafeln. Tübingen, J. G. Cotta, 1810.
8vo and 4to. 2 vols. and volume of plates. XLVIII, 654 pp. XXVIII, 757 pp. With 17 plates (12 in colour; with the extra plate after no. II). Contemporary half calf with giltstamped Saxon arms on covers. Edges marbled. First edition of Goethe's principal scientific work, the "Farbenlehre", including the quarto-sized "Erklärung der zur Goethe’s Farbenlehre gehörigen Tafeln". "Goethe's first publication on optics culminated in his 'Zur Farbenlehre', his longest and, in his own view, best work, today known principally as a fierce and unsuccessful attack on Newton's demonstration that white light is composite" (DSB V, 445). The plates are of various sizes, showing this to be the earliest impression of the 17-plate set, but do not have the manuscript corrections present in some copies (cf. Hagen, p. 170). - Bindings somewhat rubbed; occasional brownstaining due to paper. A fine, complete copy in its first binding, originally in the library of the Dukes of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach: gilt Saxon arms on the marbled covers; armorial stamps to all titles. Most famously, Duke Karl August was Goethe's friend, lord, and benefactor. Hagen 347, 347 d. Goedeke IV 3, 583 (46). Kippenberg I, 386, 389. Hirzel A 288. Speck 2289/90. Schmid 55-58. Brieger 733. WG² 79.
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Kaempfer, Engelbert.
Icones selectae plantarum, quas in Japonia collegit et delineavit. London, [Library of the British Museum], 1791.
Folio (265 x 420 mm). (4), 3, (1) pp. With 59 etched plates (8 are double-page) by Daniel Mackenzie. Slightly later half calf, marbled sides, gold-tooled monogram AL on spine. First and only edition of one of the rarest books on Japanese flora. Kaempfer (1651-1716) was a professor from Lemgo, Germany, who joined the Dutch East India Company (VOC) as a physician in 1685. After periods in what are now India and Indonesia he travelled in 1690 to Japan to work as a doctor on Dejima (Deshima), the Dutch trading post or factory in Nagasaki. This was one of the rare places where Western and Japanese people were allowed to interact. During his three-year term of duty, Kaempfer was twice allowed to journey to Edo (now Tokyo) in the company of the head of the factory. Upon his return he went into medical practice in his native town, Lemgo. After his return to Europe he wrote a number of works in manuscript, but did publish them, leaving them in manuscript at his death. Sir Hans Sloane acquired these manuscripts, alsong with his drawings and herbarium, and arranged for their translation and publication, the first to appear in translation was The history of Japan in 1727. This English translation established Kaempfer's reputation as the 18th-century authority on Japan and deeply influenced Japan's image in Europe. - Kaempfer's botanical drawings used for the present publication were among the more than 4000 groups of manuscripts from Sloane's collection that formed the core of the Library of the British Museum when it was established in 1753 (Sloane MS 2914). The renowned botanist and companion of the 1768 Cook expedition Sir Joseph Banks (1743-1820) was responsible for the editing and publication of this work and dedicated it to the curators of the Library. In most cases no plates had previously been made from these drawings, so they remained unpublished. In the last years of his life Kaempfer himself had published only a small number of his drawings in his Amoenitatum exoticarum, printed in Lemgo in 1712. Thus the present publication introduces many Japanese plants for the first time to a large audience in the West. Kaempfer's herbarium is now in the Natural History Museum, South Kensington. - Royal Library duplicate stamp in the foot of title page. With some minor foxing, the last few plates stained only in the lower margin, not affecting the illustrations. Otherwise in very good condition. Great Flower Books, p. 62. Henrey 886. Nissen (BBI) 1019. Stafleu/Cowan 3484.
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L'Héritier de Brutelle, Charles-Louis.
Stirpes novae, aut minus cognitae, quas descriptionibus et iconibus illustravit. Paris, Philip Dionysius Pierres (part-titles add: sold by Louis-Nicolas Prevost, Paris; Peter Elmsley, London; and Rudolph Gräffer, Vienna and Leipzig), "1784"-"1785" [= 1785-1788].
Parts 1-4 (of 6) in 1 volume. 1mo (full-sheet leaves, ca. 37 x 54 cm). (2), VI, 1-20; (2), VII-VIII, 21-40; (2), IX-X, 41-62; (2) XI-XII, 63-102 pp. With a general title-page, 4 part-titles (each with a woodcut vignette) and 50 engraved plates (signed I-XLVIII, including VII bis and XXX bis): 22 after Pierre Joseph Redouté, 17 after L. Freret, 4 after Fossier, 2 after P. Jossigny, 2 after J.G. Bruguiere, and 1 each after James Sowerby, Cl. Aubriet and Prévost. Original publisher's pink paste-paper wrappers over boards. Preserved in a professionally handmade box, made for this book. First and only edition of a sumptuous botanical work by the French botanist L'Héritier de Brutelle (1746-1800). In this work L'Héritier describes a great number of new taxa, including many growing in his own garden (of more than 8000 plants), the gardens of his friends and in the Jardin du Roi. Hunt describes this work as L'Héritier's "magnum opus" and as a benchmark in the history of 18th century flower books: "The book is splendid in spacious description, its charming exotic plates, its implications for taxonomic history; and fascinating as an imposing piece of eighteenth-century bookmaking, with its series of fascicles printed on broadsheets, its bibliographical algebra" (Hunt). - This is also the first publication of a work by the young botanical engraver Pierre Joseph Rédoute (1759-1840), who engraved at least the 22 plates he drew himself. It is in this work that Redouté emerges as an extraordinary botanical artist, because L'Héritier asked him to draw the majority of the plates. On the "Stirpes novae" L'Héritier and Redouté collaborated for the first time, but after that they worked together more often, for example on the "Sertum Anglicum" (1788). Their friendship proved a determining factor in Redouté's career and enabled him fully to develop his extraordinary talents. - "Stirpes novae" is in 1mo format (each leaf comprising a full sheet) rather than folio, as many bibliographies state, with pagination, but without quire signatures. Although the "Stirpes novae" was intended for publication in the years 1784 and 1785 and the part-titles of the fascicles are dated thus, Stafleu & Cowan and Hunt note that these are not the actual dates of publication. The present first four (of six) fascicles were published in March 1785, April 1786, April 1786 and March 1788 respectively. Originally the "Stirpes novae" were to comprise two volumes, but only the six fascicles of the first volume were actually published. - Pink paper wrappers rubbed and some paper missing on the front and back board. Board edges and corners worn. A tear in plate XXXI, otherwise a rare book in good condition. De Belder 215. Hunt 673. Johnston 555. Nissen (BBI) 1190. Pritzel 5268. Stafleu/Cowan 4484. Cf. Buchheim, "A bibliographical account of L'Héritier's 'Stirpes novae'", in: Huntia, vol. 2, (1965), pp. 29-58.
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Swartz, Olof Peter.
Icones plantarum incognitarum quas in India Occidental. Erlangen, Johann Jacob Palm, 1794-[1800].
2 parts in 1 volume. Folio. With XII finely hand-coloured numbered engraved plates. Near contemporary half cloth, marbled sides. Very rare first and only edition of an illustrated description of 13 Jamaican plants (13 illustrated with 1 plate each, but only the first 9 described) by the Swedish botanist Olof Peter Swartz (1760-1818), who had drawn some 200 plants during his travels through the West Indies. 71 of these drawings were destroyed in WWII. J.F. Volkart made 13 engravings after some of these drawings for the present publication (all showing Jamaican plants): in the present copy they are delicately hand-coloured with a subtle gradiation of tones. It was intended as part of the first fascicule of a much larger publication that would have contained engravings after all of Swartz's drawings, but the rest still remains unpublished today. - Swartz first published findings from his voyage to the West Indies in his Nova genera & species plantarum seu prodromus descriptionum (1788), which is not illustrated. He enrolled as a medical student at the University of Uppsala in 1778 (the year the elder Linnaeus died), studied under Carl Linnaeus the younger and graduated with a doctoral thesis in 1781. From 1784 to 1786 he traveled via North America to Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Haiti and Cuba and made a special study of the flora of parts of Jamaica that western botanists had not yet visited. On his return voyage, he stopped in London to study the collections of Banks and Linnaeus, comparing them with his own assembled material. After his return to Sweden he became a leading figure in Swedish botanical studies, in charge of the Hortus Botanicus Bergianus and professor of botany. - The title-page, dated 1794, says fascicule 1, and the table of contents, also explicitly described as fascicule 1, lists 25 numbered species, but the present copy contains all that was published: the descriptions for species 1-9 and one plate each for species 1-13. Fascicule 1 was intended for publication in two or more instalments. The first instalment, issued in 1794, includes the title-page (A1) and contents (A2) for the entire fascicule. One might think the first instalment covered species 1-9, and that plates 10-13 (intended for the second instalment) were added when further work was abandoned, even though no descriptions had been printed for them. Stafleu & Cowan, however, cites correspondence indicating that plates 1-6 were issued in 1794 and plates 7-13 in 1801, so it describes the work as two published instalments containing plates 1-6 and 7-13, and an intended third instalment, never published, that would have contained plates 14-25. But the nine descriptions appear on sheet B (pp. 5-8, though B2 is mis-signed "A2"), with the description of species 5 beginning on B1v and concluding on B2r, so the nine descriptions could not have been issued in two separate instalments. In any case, the descriptions of species 10-25 and the 12 plates for species 14-25 never appeared. - Spine slightly discoloured, corners a bit bumped. Minor foxing on the text leaves. Otherwise in very good condition. Hunt 735. Linnaeus and the Linnaeans, p. 155. Nissen (BBI) 1917. Stafleu/Cowan 13529.
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Apollonius of Perga.
Conicorum lib[ri] V, VI, VII. Paraphraste Abalphato Asphahanensi nunc primum editi. Florence, Giuseppe Cocchini, 1661.
Folio (228 x 330 mm). (36), 415, (1) pp. Title-page printed in red and black. With hundreds of geometric figures in the text. - (Bound after) II: Coenders van Helpen, Barent. Thresor de la philosophie des anciens où l'on conduit le lecteur par degrez à la connaissance de tous les metaux & mineraux [...]. "Cologne" (i.e., Groningen), Claude le Jeune, 1693. (6), 240 pp. Title-page printed in red and black. With allegorical frontispiece ("Escalier des Sages"), woodcut ornaments, 12 allegorical plates, and 5 copper engraved plates with alchemical motifs. Contemporary smooth, deep auburn full calf with gilt ornamentation and traces of a label to spine. Editio princeps of books V, VI and VII of the "Conica", the most original part of Apollonius's fundamental work on conic sections. The text survives only in the Arabic manuscript of Abu 'l Fath of Ispahan, purchased by the Medici family in the first half of the 17th century and here translated and edited by Alfonso Borelli. "This was a valuable addition to the mathematical knowledge of the time, for whereas Books I-IV of the Conics dealt with information already known to Apollonius's predecessors, Books V-VII were largely original. Book V discusses normals to conics and contains Apollonius's proof for the construction of the evolute curve; Book VI treats congruent and similar conics and segments of conics; Book VII is concerned with propositions about inequalities between various functions of conjugate diameters" (Norman). "The fifth book is especially important treating of normals as minimum and maximum straight lines drawn from given points to the curve" (Honeyman). "The sixth book is on the similarity of conics. The seventh book is on conjugate diameters" (Cajori). - A fine, wide-margined copy. - Bound first is the final edition of the "Thresor de la philosophie des anciens", a reference treatise for the theory and practice of alchemy, esotericism and hermetic philosophy that draws on Hermes Trismegistus, Paracelsus, and Sendivogius. Couched in the form of a dialogue, the book discusses the ten-step ascent to the single matter via two qualities, three principles, and four elements. The 17 remarkable allegorical plates depict alchemy, chaos, heat, love, the elements, sulphur, mercury, and salt. The Groningen politician Coenders (1601-78) first published this rare work in 1686. - Occasional light browning; title-page trimmed along top edge. Binding a little rubbed at extremeties, spine-end professionally repaired, but an appealing volume. I: Norman 58. Honeyman 119. De Vitry 29. Sarton I, 173-175. DSB I, 179-193 (Apollonius) & II, 308f. (Borelli). Cajori, A History of Mathematics, pp. 40f. DBI XII, 546. Riccardi I, 158 ("bella edizione, ed assai ricercata"). - II: VD 17, 7:651937N. Caillet 2419. Duveen 287. Verginelli 74. Brüning II, 2718. Brunet II, 1052.
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Cornalia, Emilio.
Monografia del Bombice del Gelso (Bombyx Mori Linn.). Milano, Giuseppe Bernardoni di Gio, 1856.
Folio (ca. 250 x 330 mm). IX, (1), 388 pp. With 15 numbered lithographed folding plates, including 1 chromolithographed, by Vassalli. Original printed boards. First and only edition of an extensive monograph on the silkworm by Emilio Cornalia (1824-82), conservator and director of the Milan Museum of Natural History. It was published as volume 6 of the "Memorie of the Instituto Lombardo di scienze, lettere ed arti". - With a presentation inscription by the author to Conte Lebregondi on the title-page. Binding slightly soiled, otherwise in very good condition. WorldCat records 6 copies. Horn/Schenkling 3868. Not in BMC NH.
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Glauber, Johann Rudolf.
Tractatus de natura salium [...]. Item, tractatulus parvus, & compendiosus de salium, metallorum, & planetarum signatura. Amsterdam, Johann Jansson, 1659.
Small 8vo. 2 parts in 1 volume. (16), 96 pp. (Second part has separate title-page): Tractatus de signatura salium, metallorum, et planetarum [...]. Ibid., 1659. 44 pp. With a few woodcut symbols in the text. Contemporary full limp vellum with handwritten author's name to spine and handwritten title to lower edge. First Latin edition, published a year after the German original edition. One of Glauber's most important publications, this contains among other items an account of his discovery of sodium sulfate in 1625 (cf. Dünnhaupt). The German alchemist and chemist Glauber (1604-70) has been described as one of the first chemical engineers. He here displays an early understanding of chemical affinity; Berzelius (in his "Lehrbuch der Chemie") points out that Glauber was among the first to recognize how sulphuric acid replaces nitric and hydrochloric acid in compounds, while alkali replaces ammonia. It was in the process of this research that he "discovered the 'sal mirabile' that bears his name, 'Glauber's salt'" (cf. Schelenz, 481). - Light browning and occasional waterstaining, but a good, attractive copy. The engraved title mentioned by Brüning is not present in any traceable copy and is probably a ghost. - Provenance: handwritten ownership "de La Roche" to title-page; 20th century bookplates of the bibliographer Guy Bechtel (b. 1931, "Le bibliophobe Bechtel") and of René Alleau (1917-2013), friend of André Breton and director of the Bibliotheca hermetica collection at the French publishing house Denoël (loosely inserted before the flyleaf). Ferchl 188. Neu 1690. Hoover 365f. Wellcome III, 124. Osler 2752. Duveen 257. Dünnhaupt 18.II & 19.II. Brüning 1979f. Not in Ferguson.
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Kircher, Athanasius.
Ars magna sciendi, in XII libros digesta, qua nova & universali methodo ... [vol. 2 half-title:] Artis magnae seu combinatoriae sciendi, ... [titles on the frontispieces:] Ars magna sciendi sive combinatoria [vol. 1] Artis magnae combinatoriae [vol. 2]. Amsterdam, Johannes Janssonius van Waesberge and the widow of Elizaeus Weyerstraten, 1669.
Folio (46 x 30 cm). 2 vols. in 1. (18), 245, (2), 247-482, (10) pp. With 2 richly engraved allegorical frontispieces, an engraved plate with a full-page portrait of Emperor Leopold I, an engraved plate showing all knowledge of the universe organised as a tree, 2 engraved volvelles (with 4 rotating dials), 20 further engravings on integral leaves and a couple dozen woodcut figures in the text. Contemporary richly gold-tooled red goatskin morocco decorated a petit fers, gold-tooled turn-ins, board edges and raised bands, giving a total of more than 1500 impressions of about 14 stamps and 3 rolls, edges gilt over red and blue squiggles. Janssonius van Waesberge, who published Kircher's books in Amsterdam from 1664/65 to 1682, arranged to have copies of several luxuriously bound for Kircher to present to leading figures, and this is almost certainly one of them, presented to Giovanni Paolo Oliva, Superior General of the Jesuit Society. First and only edition of this work important for the theory of science. Its fundamental idea of connecting all branches of science in a common system is based upon the thoughts of Ramon Llull. "Represents the 17th century research for a universal language" (Merill) and is considered a "fascinating anticipation and precursor of computer science" for its treatment of the art of combinatorics. At the same time, it forms a manual of mnemotechnics and of a method of learning. - On 29 July 1661 Kircher contracted to have the Amsterdam bookseller Johannes Janssonius van Waesberge (1616-81) publish his books, including new editions of some previously published works as well as works not yet written. Kircher also had Van Waesberghe arrange for some copies of the books to be luxuriously bound for presentation to various luminaries. - No expense was spared to produce the present binding, and it bears the owner's inscription of Giovanni Paolo Oliva (1600-81), Superior General of the Jesuit Society, who granted the privileges for both volumes - an obvious candidate for a presentation copy. Moreover, the binding is nearly identical to that of the Morgan Library's copy of the same edition, using the same tools in a nearly identical arrangement: thus, a single binder made at least two virtually identical and extremely luxurious bindings for the same edition, a fact which strongly supports the notion that they were made as Kircher's presentation copies. - In a 1948 Sotheby’s catalogue, Anthony Hobson attributes the binding of the copy now at the Morgan to the most famous Dutch binder of all time, Albert(us) Magnus (1642-89). Miner merely notes this attribution and the Morgan still attributes it to Magnus, but Nixon, discussing other Kircher books bound by Magnus, writes "I am less certain that ... the Ars magna sciendi in the Landau-Finaly sale ... does come from the same workshop". Similarly, De la Fontaine Verwey calls the attribution to Magnus "doubtful", and Foot writes that the binding "is decorated ... with closely massed tools, which I have not found on any other Dutch binding of the period". High-quality Dutch bindings in richly gold-tooled morocco from the 1660s to the 1690s were once almost invariably attributed to Magnus, but Foot distinguishes about a dozen different Dutch workshops that finished bindings in this style, noting that some "show the same high level of craftsmanship and are decorated with tools very closely similar to those used by" Magnus. The fact that few of these groups of bindings have so far been linked to named bookbinders takes nothing away from the quality of the work. The present binding represents a workshop of the highest order that has so far been barely studied, and its large number of tools, with more than 1500 impressions of about 14 stamps and 3 rolls, gives a good overview of the workshop’s equipment. The paper is of royal format, probably indicating a large-paper copy, since many copies seem to be 37 to 40 cm tall. - With the contemporary owner’s inscription of Giovanni Paolo Oliva at the foot of the title-page and the armorial bookplate of the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica in Amsterdam. Browned and foxed as common, a few leaves more severely, with the ink of both the letterpress text and the engravings sometimes leaving a browned offset or showing through on the reverse, but otherwise in good condition. The foot of the spine has a crack in the front hinge and a few wormholes and repaired tears in the backstrip (all within the lowest 4 cm); the head of the spine also shows a few wormholes but only minor damage. The turn-ins have browned the outer edges of the marbled pastedowns, and the free endleaves are more severely browned than the leaves of the book itself. The binding is otherwise in very good condition, with only minor scuff marks around the extremities and with nearly all of the tooling clear and well-preserved. De Backer/S. IV, 1066-1067 (no. 28). Breslauer cat. 107 [1984?], p. 188 (this copy). Caillet 5771. Dünnhaupt (Bibliogr. Handbuch), Kircher 23. Ferguson I, 467. Findlen, Athanasius Kircher, pp. 7, 35, 83-85 & passim. Fletcher, Athanasius Kircher (2011), pp. 415-417, 495, 557f. & 567 (no. 24). Honeyman 1827 (incompl.). Merrill, Athanasius Kircher 22 (2 copies, 1 lacking 1st frontispiece & 1 lacking portrait). Thorndike VII, 567. For the Morgan Library copy in a nearly identical binding: H. de la Fontaine Verwey, "The binder Albert Magnus ...", in: Quaerendo 1 (1971), pp. 158-178, at p. 163, note 3. Mirjam Foot, Henry Davis gift I (1978), p. 246. Dorothy Miner/Walters Art Gallery, History of bookbinding (1957) 434 (ill.). Howard Nixon, Broxbourne Library (1956), p. 154. Sotheby’s London, 13 July 1948 (Baron Horace de Landau coll.), lot 69. Sotheby’s London, 13 March 1956 (J. W. Hely-Hutchinson coll.), lot 391 (ill.). For Van Waesberge: Van Eeghen, De Amsterdamse boekhandel IV, pp. 257-163.
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Clemens, A. / Goffe, Louis André.
Über die Natur und Heilung der sporadischen und epidemischen Cholera. Nach dem Französischen bearbeitet. Frankfurt, Wesche, 1831.
8vo. 45 pp, (1) ff. Partially uncut. Marbled paper spine. One US copy traced, at Chicago. Not in Wellcome. Billings, p. 842.
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Flies, E. L.
Kurzgefaßte Mittheilung einer sichern Behandlungsart der Cholera, nach vielfältig darüber gemachten Erfahrungen. Berlin & Bromberg, Posen & Mittler, 1831.
8vo. IV pp, (5)-11 pp. Paper spine. No US copy traced. Not in Wellcome. Billings, p. 969.
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Hoeglauer, J. Georg.
Kurtze Winke und Andeutungen zur nähern Ergründung der Natur und Behandlung der Orientalischen Cholera. Regensburg, Pustet, 1831.
8vo. VI pp, (7)-40 pp. Original publisher's decorative wrappers, pages untrimmed. One US copy traced, at Chicago. Not in Wellcome. Billings, p. 845.
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Köstler, A. L.
Anweisung sich gegen die epidemische Cholera zu schützen, und dieselbe bey ihrem Beginn zweckmäßig zu behandeln. Vienna, Mörschner and Jasper, 1831.
8vo. 32 pp. Original blue printed wrappers. One US copy traced, at Yale Medical. Not in Wellcome. Not in Billings.
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Kratzenstein, Carl Friedrich Wilhelm.
Verlauf und Heilung der asiatischen Cholera für Aerzte und Wundärzte nach eigenen Beobachtungen bearbeitet. Helmstädt, Fleckeisen, 1831.
8vo. VI pp, (7)-28 pp. Paper spine. No US copy traced. Not in Wellcome. Not in Billings.
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Newton, John Frank.
The Return to Nature, or, A Defence of the Vegetable Regimen; With Some Account of an Experiment Made During the Last Three Years in the Author's Family. Part the first [= all published]. London, T. Cadell & W. Davies, 1811.
8vo. VI, 160 pp. - (Bound with) II: Johnson, James. The Influence of Civic Life, Sedentary Habits, and Intellectual Refinement, on Human Health, and Human Happiness, Including an Estimate of the Balance of Enjoyment and Suffering in the Different Gradations of Society. London, (W. Thorne for) T. & G. Underwood et al., 1818. VIII, 93, (1) pp. Contemporary full green straight morocco (bound by Charles Hering, Jr., of London) with gilt spine title and the gilt arms of the Earls of Harrington on both covers. Leading edges gilt; gilt inner dentelle. Matching green endpapers. Green silk ribbon. All edges gilt. First edition of this rare and early vegetarian work. J. F. Newton (1767-1837) sought to popularise the vegetable and distilled water diet of the physician and veganism pioneer William Lambe, whose patient he was. In his book, Newton promoted his own "regimen of distilled water and vegetable diet" (p. 66), believing vegetables to be the natural food of man and animal flesh unhealthy and unnatural. It was Newton who converted Percy B. Shelley to a vegetarian lifestyle, and his book influenced the poet's 1813 pamphlet on vegetarianism and animal rights, "A Vindication of Natural Diet". - Bound with this is a rare hygienic work by the surgeon J. Johnson (1777-1845), physician to the Duke of Clarence (afterward King William IV). - Interior very slightly browned, but a fine specimen, beautifully bound by Charles Hering for the library of Charles Stanhope, Viscount Petersham and afterwards the 4th Earl of Harrington (1780-1851). Known as "Beau" Petersham, the eccentric but much-imitated gentleman was a close friend of the Prince Regent George, who emulated his mannerisms in clothing, tea mixes, and consumption of snuff. Lord Petersham designed many of his own clothes and his fashions were quickly copied; he made famous the "Harrington" hat and the "Petersham" overcoat. The final pages of the present volume contain contemporary handwritten annotations about the poisonous effects of a fruitarian diet of (quoted from Jacques de Sade's "Mémoires pour la vie de Pétrarque") and about the high regard in which Galen and Hippocrates held water and abstinence, very likely in Petersham's own hand.
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Treyden, Heinrich Trotta von.
Leichtfaßliche Anweisung zur Erkenntniß und Behandlung der Cholera, für die Bewohner des platten Landes. Königsberg, Bornträger, 1831.
8vo. 31 pp, (1). Paper spine. One US copy traced, at the University of Rochester. Not in Wellcome. Not in Billings.
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Betocchi, Alessandro, Ingenieur (1843-1909).
Le acque e gli acquedotti di Roma antica e di Roma moderna. Mit eigenh. Widmung. Rom, Elzevier, 1879.
32 SS., die letzte weiß. 4to. Im bedruckten Originalumschlag. Schrift über die Gewässer und Aquädukte von Rom mit Widmung an den Hofrat, Korvettenkapitän, Generalinspektor des Telegraphenwesens und Administrator der Ersten Österreichischen Donaudampfschifffahrtsgesellschaft Graf Victor Wimpffen: "Al [...] signore Conte [...] Vittorio Wimpffen in argomento d'infinita stima l'Autore". - Beiliegend Betocchis Visitenkarte mit allen Titeln und dem eh. Zusatz "Officier de la Legion d'Honneur" sowie ein eh. adr. Kuvert an Wimpffen. - Die Druckschrift teilweise unaufgeschnitten, der Umschlag lose.
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Abicht, W.
Der Champagner-Arzt. Neueste Erfahrungen über die wohlthätigen diätetischen und arzneilichen Kräfte der Schaumweine. Nordhausen, Ernst Friedrich Fürst (Druck von C. Hoffmann in Stolberg a/H.), 1845.
12mo. 117, (3) pp. Publisher's original printed wrappers. Only edition; extremely rare. Entitled "The Champagne Physician", this pamphlet offers a light-spirited discussion of the medicinal and dietary benefits of champagne and sparkling wines, in particular of their excellent effects on stomach cramps, vomiting, anemia, menstrual disorders, etc. - Light browning; upper wrapper cover repaired. Provenance: from the collection of the French liqueur magnate Max Cointreau (1922-2016) with his bookplate to the inside cover. A single copy known in libraries internationally (British Library, Reference Collections). OCLC 751391874.
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[Farsi spiritual tales].
Persian illuminated manuscript. [North-Western India?, ca. 1860s].
4to (167 x 215 mm). Persian illuminated manuscript on paper. 31 ff., written on both sides, 11 lines per extensum. Black ink with rubricated titles, written in a thin and very cursive Indian nastaliq style tending already to perform the "shorthand" writing infractions of the shekasteh ("broken") variety. With a coloured headpiece and 10 full-page coloured illustrations. Blindstamped red leather with reinforced spine. A prose work of anecdotal moral tales, most likely from North-Western India (now Pakistan) from the mid or third quarter of the 19th century. Untitled and without a colophon or marginalia, beginning abruptly, it appears to be incomplete, despite the conventional presence of an - apparently overpainted - headpiece of the sarlawh type. - Unlike similar Persian allegorical prose works, whose tales revolve mostly around allegorical animal characters, this narrative, oriented towards moral and spiritual instruction, appears to be inspired on the one hand by Saadi’s gently ironic works such as "Gulestan". Divided into several chapters, or "abvab", it focuses on the moral analysis of human deeds and intentions, informed by Indian Sufi spiritual tradition. - The scene is set in an exquisitely Indian historical context: the text mentions a "raj" (Hindu king), and the Mughal Empire also make an appearance with the protagonist of the final tale, Alamgir Padshah (the "World-Seizing Emperor", likely the Mughal ruler Awrangzeb, who reigned 1658-1707), encountering a certain Mard-i murtaz (a spiritually well-versed man). The manuscript is embellished by full-page miniatures, one depicting a hunting scene, another illustrating a valiant horseman slaying a dragon-like monster. The illustrations are colourful and lively, if conventional in their disposition of the human figures and landscape before a background without depth.
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Einstein, Albert.
Collection of 10 first issue offprints from the "Sitzungsberichte der preußischen Akademie der Wissenschaften". Berlin, Verlag der Akademie der Wissenschaften / de Gruyter, 1922-1932.
I: Zur Theorie der Lichtfortpflanzung in dispergierenden Medien. 1922. [Weil 120. Seelig 162. Schilpp-Shields 145. Boni 132]. - II: Zu Kaluzas Theorie des Zusammenhanges von Gravitation und Elektrizität. Erste [und zweite] Mitteilung. 1927. [Weil 156. Seelig 212]. - III: Riemann-Geometrie mit Aufrechterhaltung des Begriffes des Fernparallelismus. 1928. [Weil 161. Seelig 161. Boni 174]. - IV: Neue Möglichkeit für eine einheitliche Feldtheorie von Gravitation und Elektrizität. 1928. [Weil 162. Seelig 218. Cf. PMM 416]. - V: Einheitliche Feldtheorie und Hamiltonsches Prinzip. 1929. [Weil 166. Seelig 227. Schilpp-Shields 227. Boni 184. Cf. PMM 416]. - VI: Die Kompatibilität der Feldgleichungen in der einheitlichen Feldtheorie. 1930. [Weil 169. Seelig 239]. - VII: Zum kosmologischen Problem der allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie. 1931. [Weil 179. Seelig 249, Schilpp-Shields 249]. - VIII: Systematische Untersuchung über kompatible Feldgleichungen, welche in einem Riemannschen Raume mit Fernparallelismus gesetzt werden können. 1931. [Weil 180. Seelig 250. Schilpp-Shields 250]. - IX: Einstein & W. Mayer: Einheitliche Theorie von Gravitation und Elektrizität. 1931. [Weil 182. Seelig 251. Hook/Norman 701]. - X: Einstein & W. Mayer: Einheitliche Theorie von Gravitation und Elektrizität. Zweite Abhandlung. 1932. [Weil 185]. 10 of a total of 36 "Sonderausgaben aus den Sitzungsberichten" published under Einstein's name between 1914 and 1932. Such offprints of the session reports of the Academy of Sciences (largely with independent pagination) were presented to the author by the publisher in a limited number as vouchers or dedication copies. - The present offprints date from Einstein's middle and late period at the Berlin Academy. They mainly treat the connection between gravity and electricity/electromagnetism. Einstein strove for a "unified field theory", as the General Theory of Relativity did not allow for properly integrating the electromagnetic field into the geometry of space-time. After a first attempt at a solution in 1925, Einstein tackled the problem again three years later, "only to find that Riemann's conception of space, on which the general theory was based, would not permit of a common explanation of electromagnetic and gravitational phenomena. In a series of papers devoted to the development of 'A Uniform Theory of Gravitation and Electricity' he outlined a new theory of space with a view to the unification of all forms of activity that fall within the sphere of physics, giving them a common explanation. All that would then remain to complete a scientific unison is the correlation of the organic and inorganic" (PMM 416). - The present offprints reach from the first publication after the Nobel Prize to the last but one before Einstein's leaving Germany. Three articles were published in collaboration with Einstein's assistant, Walter Mayer. - One issue with slight crease to front cover, otherwise very well preserved throughout.
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Freud, Sigmund.
Eine neue Methode zum Studium des Faserverlaufs im Centralnervensystem. [Leipzig, Veit & Comp., 1884].
8vo. 453-460 pp. Original wrappers. Stored in custom-made black half morocco case. First printing, offprint from the "Archiv für Anatomie und Physiologie" (1884, 5-6). Inscribed and signed to his schoolfriend, the chemist Josef Herzig, on the upper wrapper cover: "Seinem lieben Freunde Dr. Jozef Herzig | dVerf.". "Freud's full account of his method of staining nerve tissue with gold chloride [...] An English version [...] was published in Brain 7 (1884) [...] under the title 'A new histological method for the study of nerve-tracts in the brain and spinal cord'" (Norman). - Very rare and in quite good condition with insignificant edge wear and traces of handling. Provenance: from the collection of the psychoanalyst and bibliophile Haskell Field Norman (1915-96) with his bookplate on inside front cover; acquired from a Belgian private collection. Grinstein 30. Stanford 6. Norman F 6 (this copy).
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Freud, Sigmund, Mediziner und Begründer der Psychoanalyse (1856-1939).
Portraitlithographie mit eigenh. Widmung und U. Wohl Wien, 1933/34.
600:445 mm (Plattenrand), Blattmaß 668:507 mm. Ferdinand Schmutzers ikonisches Freud-Portrait mit eh. Widmung und U. für "Herrn Dr. J. J. van der Leeuw zur freundlichen Erinnerung an | Sigm. Freud | 1933/34". - Über Schmutzers Portrait schrieb Freud 1926 in einem Brief an Marie Bonaparte: "Zum Geburtstag ist eine Radierung von Schmutzer fertig geworden, die mir ausgezeichnet scheint. Andere finden ihren Ausdruck zu streng, fast böse. Wahrscheinlich bin ich innerlich so" (10. V. 1926). - Der niederländische Theosoph und Autor Jacobus Johannes (J. J.) van der Leeuw war im Jahr 1933 mehrmals bei Freud in Behandlung gewesen. Für Freud war er der "Fliegende Holländer", da er 1933 den Flugschein erworben hatte und ein begeisterter Flieger war. Am 23. August 1934 fand Leeuws Begeisterung jedoch ein jähes Ende, als er am Rückflug von einer Konferenz in Johannesburg über Tansania abstürzte und ums Leben kam. - Provenienz: Aus dem Nachlass Ferdinand Schmutzers (so in Bleistift am rechten unteren Rand bezeichnet), später im Besitz des Psychoanalytikers und Bibliophilen Haskell Field Norman (1915-1996), zuletzt in belgischem Privatbesitz und von dort erworben. - Von unbedeutenden Kleinigkeiten am Plattenrand abgesehen ausgezeichnet erhalten. Vgl. Stanford 78 & 80. Norman 170 & 171 (andere Exemplare). Sigmund Freud, Briefe 1873-1939. Ausgewählt und herausgegeben von Ernst und Lucie Freud. 3. korr. Auflage (Frankfurt a. M., S. Fischer Verlag, 1980), S. 384.
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Freud, Sigmund, Austrian neurologist and founder of psychoanalysis (1856-1939).
Portrait photograph signed ("Sigm. Freud"). Probably Vienna, 1936.
231 x 171 mm on backing cardboard (376 x 280 mm). The well-known portrait of Freud taken by the Austro-Hungarian photographer László Willinger: a very attractive print in excellent condition. Willinger, who has been barred from any professional activity in Germany in 1933, worked for some time in the Vienna atelier of his father Wilhelm before emigrating in 1939. The present portrait was created in 1935. - Provenance: collection of the granddaughter of the Austro-American psychoanalyst René Spitz; acquired from a Belgian private collection. - Backing cardboard a little stained in two places and traces of old mounting on verso, otherwise clean and crisp.
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Albmair, Teodoro.
I quattro elementi spiegati in venticinque discorsi [...]. Florence, all’insegna della Stella, 1668.
4to. 278 pp. 18th century half vellum with marbled covers. Edges sprinkled. First and only edition of this rare and exceedingly curious book of secrets and popular medicine, a fantastical collection of miracles and notes on disparate topics by the native Tyrolean Theodor Albmair, former secretary to Emperor Ferdinand III. - "In the twenty-five discourses or chapters of his book, the author has something to say about not only the elements but all the fruits of the earth, whilst the most important chapter of all is the twenty-sixth; it is called 'Discorso particolare', and it deals with man in health and in sickness. The fourteenth 'Discorso' deals with bread, the fifteenth with wine" (Simon). Other subjects include gems and precious stones, moss, ambra and balms, metals, herbs, rare flowers and how to cultivate them; various animals, including such as supposedly dwell in fire, etc. "Ein rares, seltenes Buch" (Grass, Verzeichniß einiger Büchermerkwürdigkeiten, 1790, p. 8). - Binding rubbed and bumped. Interior somewhat brownstained throughout; some insignificant worming to lower corner (not touching text). Without flyleaves or final blank leaf. - Provenance: title-page has 18th century manuscript ownership of Giovanni Modesto Canciani, who probably commissioned the binding; last page of text has his handwritten statement: "1770: 20 Xbris liber iste a me Joanne Modesto Canciani totaliter usque ad hanc diem est perlectus" (last word trimmed by binder and then supplied again by the same writer). Additional stamped ownership of the Collegio Universitario Antonianum in Padua ("Antonianum Coll. Univ. Bibl.") with their shelfmarks to title-page. Very rare: OCLC lists only four copies in libraries (Wellcome Library; Univ. of Chicago; Univ. of Michigan; Bibliothèque de Genève); a single copy in auction records (André L. Simon's copy, sold at Sotheby's in 1981). Simon 80. Wellcome II, 26. Sinkankas 60-A ("not seen"). Agassiz I, 111. Böhmer IV, 1, 281. Haym, p. 517, no. 9. Brückmann, Bibliotheca animalis continuatio (1747), p. 12. Cat. of the Science Library in the South Kensington Museum (1891), p. 242. Cat. of the Library of the Museum of Practical Geology (1878), p. 9. OCLC 23632541. Not in Krivatsy, Rosenthal, Ferguson etc.
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Bernoulli, Jakob.
Ars conjectandi, opus posthumum. Accedit tractatus de seriebus infinitis, et epistola de ludo pilae reticularis. Basel, Johann Rudolph Thurneysen & Emanuel Thurneysen, 1713.
4to. (4), 35, (1), 306 pp. With 2 folding tables and 1 folding plate. Contemporary full vellum with 19th century giltstamped red title label pasted to spine. All edges red. First edition of "Bernoulli's most original work [... and his] most famous single writing" (DSB). the "establishment of the fundamental principles of the calculus of probabilities" (Grolier/Horblit). "Jakob Bernoulli's posthumous treatise, edited by his nephew [Nicholas I Bernoulli], (the title literally means "the art of [dice] throwing") was the first significant book on probability theory: it set forth the fundamental principles of the calculus of probabilities and contained the first suggestion that the theory could extend beyond the boundaries of mathematics to apply to civic, moral and economic affairs. The work is divided into four parts, the first a commentary on Huygens's 'De ratiociniis in ludo aleae' (1657), the second a treatise on permutations (a term Bernoulli invented) and combinations, containing the Bernoulli numbers, and the third an application of the theory of combinations to various games of chance. The fourth and most important part contains Bernoulli's philosophical thoughts on probability: probability as a measurable degree of certainty, necessity and chance, moral versus mathematical expectation, a priori and a posteriori probability, etc. It also contains his attempt to prove what is still called Bernoulli's Theorem: that if the number of trials is made large enough, then the probability that the result will lie between certain limits will be as great as desired" (Norman). This was the first statement of the law of large numbers. - Insignificant browning, more noticeable in title-page (with an old edge repair on verso); final leaf a little duststained in the margins. An excellent copy from the library of the Swedish astronomer and statistician Carl Vilhelm Ludwig Charlier (1862-1934) with his bookplate to front pastedown (overpasting an earlier Parisian printed bookseller's label). Charlier played a crucial role in the development of statistics in Swedish academia, and several of his pupils became statisticians. He also translated Newton's "Principia" into Swedish. PMM 179. DSB II, 50. Dibner 110. Evans 8. Grolier/Horblit 12. Sparrow 21. Norman 216. OCLC 10851120. Goldsmiths'-Kress 05090.0.
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[Freud, Sigmund].
A collection of 82 works from the library of Sigmund Freud. Various places, 1908-1937.
76 volumes, mostly offprints or articles removed from journals, bound in private wrappers or in the original printed wrappers. Mostly 8vo but including a few specimens in small folio. An ensemble of 82 works from the library of Sigmund Freud, comprising roughly half of the known corpus now in private hands. In his census, the medical historian Gerhard Fichtner established the number of works from Freud's former library now in private ownership at only 166 works, or some 4 percent of his former collection of 3725 titles, the vast majority of which (more than 3,400 books) are today preserved by the Freud Museum in London and the Health Sciences Library in New York. Regarding the privately owned works, "it is noteworthy that Freud (during both the Viennese and London time) bestowed upon Eva Rosenfeld, a friend of Anna Freud, 25 important early items from his library. Amongst the privately owned volumes are also some that surfaced in recent years in the second-hand market. They are predominantly offprints, whose dedications show they once belonged to Freud's library and, as a rule, carry the partially erased stamp of the Psychoanalytic Ambulatorium Vienna. They must have arrived long before Freud's emigration in this library, which was seized and destroyed by the Nazis. Did the erasure of the stamp help to save these items, or did it disguise unauthorized possession? They come from the estate of a German analyst" (Davies/Fichtner, pp. 17f.). Indeed, the nature of some of these erasures - rather constituting overpastings with near-contemporary typed transcriptions of those parts of the text obscured by the stamp (as in David Baumgart's article on Spinoza's image in German and Jewish thought) - would strongly suggest the former reason: such an overpasting would arguably have sufficed to conceal the items' provenance from a cursory examination in 1938, but would not at all be helpful to a collector wishing to obscure a third party's title. - The present ensemble includes articles by 40 different authors from a range of disciplines, including Hugo Bergmann, Eugen Bleuler, Carl Clemen, Josef Friedjung, Heinrich Gomperz, Gustav Hans Graber, Jakob Kläsi, Otto Pötzl, and Isidor Sadger. Two specimens preserve the author's inscription to Freud (by Pötzl); others contain autograph corrections by the author (Sadger). Eighteen items show traces of a removed stamp or inscription. Paper often brittle; some wrappers a little rubbed or chipped, but on the whole very well preserved. Acquired from a Belgian private collection. Detailed list available on request. Cf. Davies/Fichtner (eds.), Freud's Library. A Comprehensive Catalogue (Tübingen/London, 2006).
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[Karpe, Franz Karl, österreichischer Mediziner (1784-1837)].
Theoretische Medicin [...] IV. V. Theil, enthaltend Diätetik, Materia medica u. Receptirkunst. Innsbruck, 1834.
Deutsche Handschrift auf Papier. (1) S., 3 w. SS., 294, (18), 311 SS., eine w. Seite, (4) SS., 2 w. Bll. Ungebundene Bögen. 4to (190 x 230 mm). Saubere Vorlesungsmitschrift der einführenden medizinischen Lehrveranstaltung an der Universität Innsbruck, gehalten von Franz Karl Karpe, der von 1818 bis zu seinem Tod Professor für Theoretische Medizin bzw. 1823/24 und 1833 Rektor der Medizinischen Universität Innsbruck war. Im Vorlesungsverzeichnis für das Jahr 1834 scheint die Lehrveranstaltung auf unter dem Titel "Ueber Encyclopädie und Methodologie, als eine Einleitung in das medicinisch-chirurgische Studium, ferner über theoretische Medicin, nämlich: Physiologie, allgemeine Pathologie und allgemeine Therapie; dann über Diätetik, medicinische und chirurgische Arzneimittel-Lehre und Receptirkunst, nach Nushard". Grundlage für die Vorlesung war das zweibändige Lehrbuch "Theoretische Medicin für Wundärzte" (Prag, 1824-26) des Mediziners Franz Willibald Nusshard (1785-1847), der während der Choleraepidemie von 1831/32 gemeinsam mit Julius Vincenz von Krombholz die Lazarette in Prag leitete und 1843 zum Direktor aller dortigen Krankenhäuser und Versorgungsinstitutionen ernannt wurde. - Die Mitschrift zur Physiologie, Pathologie und Therapie (311 SS.) ohne separates Titelblatt. Mit 18 SS. über Heilquellen in Tirol und Vorarlberg, eine Aufzählung, die sich in der Dissertation des Mediziners Johann Georg Gmeiner (Wien 1838) wiederfindet. - Papierbedingt etwas gebräunt; vereinzelte Randläsuren; wenige Seiten mit leichem Wurmfraß nahe der rechten oberen Ecke. Mit auffallend wenigen Korrekturen. - Eine frühere Mitschrift zu Karpes Vorlesung aus dem Jahr 1827 befindet sich in der Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Tirol (Cod. 1193).
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Tissot, [Samuel Auguste André David].
L'inoculazione giustificata, ovvero Dissertazione pratica e apologetica su questo metodo. Venice, Domenico Pompeati, 1775.
8vo. XVI, 158, (2) pp., final blank leaf. Contemporary carta rustica binding. First Italian edition. This still-timely booklet by the vaccination pioneer Tissot (1728-97), which first appeared in Lausanne in 1754 and was reprinted with additions in 1774, examines the progress of inoculation throughout Europe and defends the method from the malicious criticism of its detractors. - Rough covers duststained. A large dampstain throughout with some browning. Untrimmed, unsophisticated copy. Rare; only four copies recorded outside Italy (Lausanne, NLM, Johns Hopkins, Univ. of California Berkeley). Blake 453. ICCU RMLE\024231. OCLC 14863665. Not in Waller.
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Freud, Sigmund.
Das Unbehagen in der Kultur. Vienna, Internationaler Psychoanalytischer Verlag, 1930.
8vo. 136 pp. Yellow original cloth in modern half calf slipcase with giltstamped spine title. First edition of Freud's famous study known in English as "Civilization and Its Discontents", inscribed and signed by the author to his son Ernst, an architect, and Ernst's wife, the classical scholar Lucie (Lux), née Brasch (the parents of Lucian Freud): "Seinen lieben Kindern Ernst u Lux / vom Verf.". - Provenance: from the collection of the Austro-British photographer and cinematographer Wolfgang Suschitzky, whose family had known the Freuds in Vienna and who later, after his emigration to London, lived near the Freud Museum in Maresfield Gardens. Passed by descent to his son, the cinematographer Peter Suschitzky, whose works include the David Cronenberg film "A Dangerous Method" about the affair between C. G. Jung and Sabina Spielrein. Latterly in a Belgian private collection. - Occasional light duststaining the original cloth binding, interior in excellent condition. The elegant blue and black half calf slipcase is signed by the Franco-American bookbinder Paul Bélard. - Copies of Freud's works inscribed to his children are of the utmost rarity: the Freud Museum London owns just a single specimen, inscribed to his daughter Anna. Meyer-Palmedo/Fichtner 1930 a. Grinstein 10619.
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Freud, Sigmund.
Über den Bau der Nervenfasern und Nervenzellen beim Flusskrebs. Vienna, Sitzungsberichte der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1882.
8vo. 38 pp. Original wrappers. Stored in custom-made black half morocco case. First edition of this very rare pamphlet: Freud's only fifth own publication, offprint from vol. LXXXV, 3rd Dept., January issue. Inscribed and signed on the upper wrapper cover to his schoolfriend, the chemist Josef Herzig: "Seinem lieben Freunde Dr. Jozef Herzig | dVerf.". - "In this paper on the nerve cells of river crayfish, Freud was the first to demonstrate conclusively that the axes of nerve fibers are without exception fibrillary in structure [...] in this and his earlier researches Freud recognized that nerve cells and fibers were a single unit, thus paving the way for the neuron theory a number of years before Waldeyer-Hartz announced it in 1891. Freud had in fact stated as much in a lecture before the Psychiatric Society in 1882" (Norman). - Wrappers slightly duststained, otherwise a perfect, uncut copy from the collection of the psychoanalyst and bibliophile Haskell Field Norman (1915-96) with his bookplate to inside front cover; acquired from a Belgian private collection. Meyer-Palmedo/Fichtner 79. Grinstein 5. Stanford 5. Norman F5 (this copy).
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Freud, Sigmund.
Ueber die Berechtigung, von der Neurasthenie einen bestimmten Symptomencomplex als "Angstneurose" abzutrennen. Leipzig, Veit & Comp., 1895.
8vo. 16 pp. No wrappers, stored in marbled half calf folder. Inscribed by the author. First printing of this important early Freud work, an offprint from the "Neurologisches Centralblatt" (1895.2). Inscribed by the author on the first page: "Hommage de l'auteur". - "Freud's first independent entry into the field of psychopathology. Having recognized the etiological link between hysterical symptoms and earlier traumatic sexual experiences, Freud was curious as to what part sexual-etiological factors played in the other forms of neurosis, then loosely grouped together under Beard's overly broad category of 'neurasthenia'. Defining a closely related group of symptoms under the term 'anxiety neurosis', Freud proposed detaching this symptom complex from neurasthenia. He also described the sexual etiologies of both genuine neurasthenia (inadequate relief of sexual tension) and anxiety neurosis (no relief from an unbearable amount of sexual excitement)" (Norman). - Some light staining and browning with insignificant edge flaws. Provenance: from the collection of the psychoanalyst and bibliophile Haskell Field Norman (1915-96) with his bookplate on the lower inside cover of the half calf folder; acquired from a Belgian private collection. Meyer-Palmedo/Fichtner 1895b. Grinstein 39. Stanford 20. Norman F31 (this copy).
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Plenck, Joseph Jakob.
Lehre von den Augenkrankheiten. Aus dem Lateinischen übersetzt von F. von Wasserberg. Wien, Rudolph Gräffer, 1788.
314, (6) SS. Zeitgenöss. Pappband mit hs. Rückenschildchen. 8vo. Zweite verbesserte Auflage. - Joseph Jacob von Plen(c)k (1738-1807), der berühmte österreichische Mediziner und Botaniker, war Professor zu Basel, Ofen und Wien sowie an der Josephs-Akademie. “In seiner grossartigen literar. Thätigkeit, welche ihn zuletzt die Praxis ganz aufgeben liess, um sich jener ganz zu widmen, wurde er von Eyerl unterstützt, einem der gelehrtesten Aerzte seiner Zeit” (Hirsch). - Titel mit eigenh. Besitzvermerk des Ophthalmologen Francesco Buzzi (1751-1805), der im Jahre 1782 den gelben Fleck beschrieb und im Jahre 1788 die Irisablösung zur künstlichen Pupillenbildung einführte. Vorderer Innendeckel mit hs. Numerierung "1228", desgleichen am Vorderdeckel (zweifach) und Rücken (dort in einem montierten Schildchen). Vorderdeckel mit hs. Notiz von späterer Hand "Geschenk von Dr. Lemisch", wohl der Kärntner Arzt Josef Lemisch (1826-86). Engelmann 434. Vgl. Blake 356. Nicht bei Waller oder Osler.
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Agnesi, Maria Gaetana.
Traités élémentaires de calcul différentiel et de calcul intégral. Traduits de l'Italien de Mademoiselle Agnesi, avec des additions. Paris, Claude-Antoine Jombert, 1775.
8vo. IV, 500 pp. With 6 numbered engraved folding plates. Contemporary giltstamped full calf with gilt title-label to spine. 2 gilt labels with the arms of the Russian Empire and the monogram "CT" or "CP" to spine. Leading edges gilt, gilt inner dentelle. Marbled pastedowns. All edges marbled. Seminal work, written by "the first woman in the Western world who can accurately be called a mathematician" (DSB), from the library of Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia, with the Romanovs' arms to the spine. - Agnesi's work, which treats differential and integral calculus, is considered "the best introduction extant to the works of Euler" (A'Becket). The French Academy of Sciences regarded this manual the clearest, most methodological and most comprehensive work of its kind, and commissioned this French translation after the publication of the Italian original ("Instituzioni analitiche") in 1748, when the author - a child prodigy - was only 30 years old. - Binding very slightly rubbed, spine-ends chipped. Later library stamp to lower flyleaf, along with some ballpoint and pencil annotations. A fine copy of this outstanding work. DSB I, 75. Riccardi I, 1, 8, 3. A'Becket, "Maria Gaetana Agnesi", Catholic Encyclopedia (1913). OCLC 963682985.
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Turing, Alan, English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, and cryptanalyst (1912-1954).
School photograph. [Sherborne School, Sherborne, Dorset, England, [Summer, 1930].
235 x 286 mm. Mounted on cardboard. With an autograph letter signed by Victor Beuttell (see below). School photograph depicting the boys of Westcott House, Sherborne School, 1930, including Alan Turing (second row, second from right) and his friend Victor Beuttell (third row, far right), with the housemaster Geoffrey O'Hanlon seated centre with his dog. - Alan Turing attended Sherborne School from 1926 to 1931 and made an impression the moment he started his school career by cycling the 65 miles to the school from Southampton (where he had arrived from his parents' house in France during the General Strike), via an overnight stop at Blandford Forum, a feat that made the local paper. As his school reports reveal he showed "considerable promise" but his masters often complained that he failed to express himself adequately - his physics master Henry Shorland Gervis urged, "Cambridge will want sound knowledge rather than vague ideas". Other influential figures at Sherborne were his mathematics tutors Dr Edwin Davis and Donald Eperson, who instilled in the boys a love of problem solving and puzzles. Turing the schoolboy appears to have been an eccentric character but by no means the reclusive loner as he is sometimes portrayed: "At Sherborne he became the 'Mathematician-in-ordinary' who would help boys with their homework, and in his penultimate term at Sherborne his housemaster wrote in this school report that 'He takes a fatherly interest in his dormitory, and no doubt imparts his learning and curiosity to them" (Rachel Hassall, Vivat! Sherborne School magazine). This photograph was taken in July 1930 just six months after the sudden death of Turing's great friend Christopher Morcom - an event, it has been argued, that became the catalyst for his future achievements. - One of the boys he helped was Victor Beuttell, son of the British inventor Alfred William Beuttell, three years his junior, who mentions Turing three times in his letter home. Drawn together by a mutual sympathy (Turing was grieving for Christopher Morcom and Beuttell's mother was terminally ill), they were given special dispensation by the housemaster to spend time together. Victor was "also one who neither conformed, nor rebelled, but dodged the system" (Hodges, A., Alan Turing: The Enigma, 2014, p. 72), and they bonded over a love of codes and ciphers, inspired by the book 'Mathematical Recreations and Essays', which Turing had chosen as his Christopher Morcom Prize, awarded in 1930. He was obliged to leave the school in the same year as Turing after his father suffered financial losses and having failed the School Certificate, "telling Alan that it was because of too much time spent on chess and codes" (Hodges, p. 88) but they remained close. Victor was the one lasting friendship Turing retained from his time at Sherborne. Turing stayed with the family regularly and helped Victor's father Alfred with his work on lighting, with Victor in turn visiting Turing in Cambridge. Their last meeting was in 1943 when they met for lunch in London, but kept in touch for the remainder of Turing's life. Indeed, according to Victor's son, they spoke on the telephone just the night before he died in June 1954. - With an autograph letter from Victor Beuttell signed ("With heaps of love / Viccie") to his parents, reporting on his recent exam results and mentioning Turing several times ("On the additional maths [...] I think, and so does Turing that at the least I got passing marks. I didn't like the paper [...] Chemistry. According to Turing, got 70% an easy credit [...] Physics [...] By mistake did 6 questions instead of 5 [...] Even then I got a Pass according to Turing. Not so bad [...]"; 2 pages on 2 ff. on lined file paper, folio (325 x 210 mm), Westcott House, Sherborne, undated). - Provenance: Victor Beuttell (1915-93); and thence by descent.
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Ujhely, Emerich.
Herbarium. [Mediterranean?], mid-19th century.
Oblong 8vo. 40 samples mounted on 33 leaves. Some leaves touched in with watercolour borders. Loosely inserted within contemporary cardboard portfolio decorated with a watercolour ensemble of seashells, corals, and algae on the upper board, edges gilt. Silk bow tie sewn to spine. An impressive sample collection of red and brown algae, probably collected in the Mediterranean by the Austro-Hungarian navy chaplain and botanical enthusiast Emerich Ujhely (1799-1862). The ensemble is particularly remarkable for the excellent stage of preservation of the specimens, not least with regard to the freshness of their colour. Two magnificent algae collections by Ujhely are known to have survived, one kept at the Academy of Sciences in Budapest, the other owned by the city of Venice. The present pocket-sized herbarium might be considered a preliminary stage or side-piece to these larger corpora. - Some of the samples are captioned by the collector with their scientific names. One sheet with two red algae specimens feature pencil sketches of snail shells, probably as observed on the collection site, rendering the piece a miniature work of art. - Two leaves with red ownership stamp ("Ujhely Imre"). Portfolio slightly waterstained, lacking a small portion of paper covering the upper board. Occasional small marginal flaws to leaves, not affecting the specimens. A well-preserved marine herbarium of great aesthetic value.
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Boscovich, Rugjer Josip.
Philosophiae naturalis theoria redacta ad unicam legem virium in natura existentium. Vienna, Augustin Bernardi, 1759.
4to (176 x 217 mm). (2), 20, 322, (2), 16, (4) pp. Title-page printed in red and black. With 4 folding plates. Contemporary Austrian full calf binding, covers ruled in blind, spine richly gilt, with two red leather labels. Marbled endpapers. All edges red. One of the fundamental books in the history of scientific thought, in which Boscovich developed his theory of "points" which are the first elements of all matter. Second edition, published a year after the first. - Concerning himself with the elementary constitution of matter, the nature and behaviour of physical forces, light, and atoms, Boscovich anticipated many of the features of the atomic and nuclear physics of our own times, and was the true creator of atomic physics as we understand it today. He predicted the penetrability of matter by high-speed particles and the possibility of states of matter of exceptionally high density. "The Theory of Natural Philosophy is now recognized as having exerted a fundamental influence on modern mathematical physics. As the title of his book implies, [Boscovich] considered that a single law was the basis of all natural phenomena and of the properties of matter; that the multiplicity of physical forces was only apparent and due to inadequate mathematical knowledge" (PMM). - Born at Dubrovnik in 1711, Boscovich became a Jesuit and spent most of his career in Italy as professor of mathematics at Rome and Pavia and as director of the observatory at Milan; he also taught in Vienna and Paris. Although then regarded as highly speculative, his "Theoria" enjoyed an immediate success in scientific circles across Europe, and its influence was felt and acknowledged for generations to come by such giants as Joseph Priestley, Michael Faraday, James Clerk Maxwell, Lord Kelvin, J. J. Thomson, and Niels Bohr. - This edition was released in 1759, to compete with the re-issue produced that same year by Kaliwoda, the Viennese printer of the first edition, and all three early Vienna editions are extremely rare. The earliest edition usually encountered is that printed in Venice in 1763, which is the one that J. M. Child reprinted and translated into English in 1922. - Includes the "Adnotanda et corrigenda" as well as the "Monitum" leaves, both frequently lacking. The 16-page "Epistola ad Carolum Scherffer" is bound after the "Finis". Occasional light brownstaining. Traces of a removed bookplate on the front pastedown. In all a very appealing copy. VD 18, 14408716-008. Cf. PMM 203. Poggendorff I, 246. Norman 277. Riccardi I, 1870, 53. De Backer/Sommervogel I, 1840. DSB II, 326.
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Charlot, Daniel.
Pratique de la pharmacopée chinoise traditionelle. Paris, Guy Trédaniel, 1990.
472 SS. Illustr. OPbd. 8vo. Mit eh. Widmung und U. für einen Dr. Steinegger. - Etwas angestaubt und an den Kanten gering bestoßen, sonst gut erhalten; mehrere Anstreichungen im Text.
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[DNA structure]. Crick, Francis; Watson, James Dewey; and others.
The milestone papers on the structure of DNA in "Nature", vols. 171 and 172. London, Macmillan, 1953.
4to (180 x 256 mm). 5 issues, 222 pp. altogether. Extracts bound together in a single volume without original wrappers. Modern red cloth with giltstamped cover title. All the five issues of "Nature" in which, between February and October 1953, the crucial papers were published that revealed to the world the double-helix structure of DNA. Some of the various authors were collaborators, others competitors, and while the credit for the discovery is today almost entirely attached to the names of Crick and Watson, their breakthrough depended on experimental work done by all the other scientists whose relevant papers were published in the same journal and are also here included. - The papers comprise, individually: - a) Pauling, L. and Corey, R. B. Structure of the Nucleic Acids (Nature 171, No. 4347, 21 Feb. 1953, p. 346). - b) Watson, J. D. and Crick, F. H. C. Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid (No. 4356, 25 April 1953; p. 737f.). - c) Wilkins, M. H. F., Stokes, A. R. and Wilson, H. R. Molecular Structure of Deoxypentose Nucleic Acids (p. 738-740). - d) Franklin, R. E. and Gosling, R. E. Molecular Configuration in Sodium Thymonucleate (p. 740f.). - e) Watson, J. D. and Crick, F. H. C. Genetical Implications of the Structure of Deoxyribonucleic Acid (No. 4361, 30 May 1953, p. 964-967). - f) Franklin, R. E. and Gosling, R. G. Evidence for 2-Chain Helix in Crystalline Structure of Sodium Deoxyribonucleate (Vol. 172, No. 4369, 25 July 1953, p. 156f.). - g) Wilkins, M. H. F., Seeds, W. E., Stokes, A. R. and Wilson, H. R. Helical Structure of Crystalline Deoxypentose Nucleic Acid (No. 4382, 24 Oct. 1953, p. 759-762). - Together these papers provide the single most important advance in biology since Darwin's theory. The first, by America's leading chemist of his age, Linus Pauling, ultimately contributed least because Pauling's theory erroneously suggested a triple-helix structure. "Instead, victory fell to an unlikely quartet of scientists in England who didn't work as a team, often weren't on speaking terms, and were for the most part novices in the field" (Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything, p. 487f.). These were the American wunderkind James Watson and his older colleage Francis Crick at Cambridge; the brilliant but often overlooked Rosalind Franklin (with her student Raymond Gosling), working at King's College London; and the New Zealand-born Maurice Wilkins, also at King's but who communicated to the competition at Cambridge Franklin's key findings - particularly, an X-ray photograph showing the DNA molecule's basic shape and dimensions, which provided Watson and Crick with the crucial clue. It was by then known that "DNA had four chemical components - called adenine, guanine, cytosine and thiamine - and that these paired up in particular ways. By playing with pieces of cardboard cut into the shapes of molecules, Watson and Crick were able to work out how the pieces fit together. From this they made a Meccano-like model - perhaps the most famous in modern science - consisting of metal plates bolted together in a spiral, and invited Wilkins, Franklin and the rest of the world to have a look. Any informed person could see at once that they had solved the problem. It was without question a brilliant piece of detective work" (Bryson, p. 491f.). Less than two months later, their paper, "Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid", appeared in "Nature". Franklin's own paper, in the same issue, shows the now-famous X-ray diffraction image of DNA fiber and pointedly concedes that "our general ideas are not inconsistent with the model proposed by Watson and Crick in the preceding communication" (vol. 171, p. 741). - For the discovery of the DNA double helix, Crick, Watson, and Wilkins shared the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology. Franklin had passed away four year earlier at the age of 37, a victim of the X-rays to which she had over-exposed herself in her work. - Tightly bound and in excellent condition throughout.
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Kaempfer, Engelbert.
De Beschryving van Japan, behelsende een verhaal van den ouden en tegenwoordigen Staat en Regeering van dat Ryk [...]. Den Haag and Amsterdam, P. Gosse & J. Neaulme / B. Lakeman, 1729.
Folio (225 x 370 mm). (4), 50, (2), 500 pp. With engraved title-page, additional title-page printed in red and black, and 48 engraved maps, plans and plates, all but 1 double-page (numb. I-XLV, pl. XXVIII and XXIX with A- & B-number, pl. 24 followed by 24*; 9 folding, some numbers in ms.). Contemporary half calf over marbled boards with handwritten spine-title. First Dutch edition. The standard work on Japan which "was for more than a century the chief source of Western knowledge of the country" (DSB). The first historically and scientifically accurate description of Japan, this major work comprises the first biography of Kaempfer and an account of his journey, a history and description of Japan and its fauna, a description of Nagasaki and Deshima, a report on two embassies to Edo (now Tokyo) including descriptions of the cities visited on the way, and 6 appendices on tea, Japanese paper, acupuncture, moxa, ambergris, and Japan's seclusion policy. The illustrations depict ports and scenery, costumes, characters, temples, ceremonies, Japanese fauna and flora, ships and coins, as well as mythological figures like the Buddhist goddess Quanwon. Furthermore, the work comprises a large folding map of the Empire of Japan, folding city plans of Nagasaki and Edo, and seven regional maps showing Kaempfer's itinerary. - Engelbert Kaempfer (1651-1716) was a professor from Lemgo, Germany, who joined the Dutch East India Company as a physician in 1685. After periods in India and Indonesia he travelled in 1690 to Japan to work as a doctor in Dejima (Deshima), the Dutch trading post and factory in Nagasaki and one of the few places where Western and Japanese people were allowed to interact. During his three-year term of duty, Kaempfer was twice allowed to journey to Edo (Tokyo) in the company of the head of the factory. After his return to Europe he wrote a number of works but did not publish them, leaving them in manuscript at his death. Sir Hans Sloane acquired these manuscripts, along with his drawings and herbarium, and arranged for their translation and publication. The first to appear was "The History of Japan" in 1727, here offered in Dutch translation. This work established Kaempfer's reputation as the 18th century authority on Japan and deeply influenced Japan's image in Europe. - Extremities slightly rubbed. Occasional minor browning; small tear to map of the Japanese Empire rebacked with paper. Small armorial blindstamp to flyleaf and title-page. Old shelfmark label and later small-scale reproduction of the map of the Japanese Empire mounted to pastedown. Tiele 584. Landwehr (VOC) 531. Cordier (Japonica) 417f. DSB VII, 204ff. Howgego 562. Henze III, 3-6. Cat. NHSM 233. Rouffaer/Muller 440. Cf. Wellcome III, 376.
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Tornberg, Carl Johan.
Symbolae ad rem numariam Muhammedanorum (In: Nova acta regiae societatis scientiarum Upsaliensis. Seriei tertiae vol. II). Uppsala, Leffler, 1856-1858.
Small folio (230 x 288 mm). (10), 256, (3), XXVII, 257-406, (3), XXVII, 18 pp. With woodcut title vignette and 14 numbered lithographed plates. Contemporary blue wrappers with stamped volume number to spine. Academic periodical of the Royal Swedish Society of Sciences in Uppsala, comprising papers in Latin and French by prominent Swedish scholars, including the orientalist Carl Johan Tornberg (1807-77). The plates show Islamic and pre-Islamic coins studied by Tornberg. - Near-contemporary handwritten ownership of B. E. Hovén to title-page, dated 4 December 1880. Slightly worn at extremities. A partly uncut copy.
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[Bahrain]. - Belgrave, Sir Charles.
Personal Column. [Uncorrected proof copy]. London, Hutchinson & Co., 1960.
8vo. 242 pp. Original orange printed wrappers. A rare proof copy, printed without the illustrations present in the first edition. - Starting in 1926, Sir Charles Belgrave served as an advisor to the rulers of Bahrain for 31 years, firstly to Shaikh Hamad ibn Isa Al Khalifa (1872-1942), then Shaikh Salman ibn Hamad Al-Khalifa (1895-1961). This work is an account of that time and therefore contains much on the politics and society of Bahrain in what were vital years for its development. - Ink ownership inscription to front cover and stamp of the publisher Wyman & Sons to the half-title. Extremities worn with a few tears, covers a little darkened and dusty, page corners bruised and folded, interior otherwise clean and bright.
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[Mars].
A collection of views from the spacecrafts Mariner 6, 7, and 9. Washington, DC, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1969-1972.
33 original black-and-white NASA photographs (gelatin silver prints), ca. 255 x 203 mm each, with extensive official captions and NASA logo printed on the back in purple ink. Stored within black cardboard binder, photographs in individual transparent sleeves. A collection of original gelatin silver prints showing the surface of the planet Mars, taken by the American robotic space probes Mariner 6, 7, and 9: five photographs taken by Mariner 6 and seven taken by Mariner 7 (1969); the remaining 21 taken by Mariner 9 in 1971-72. All are extensively annotated on the reverse with NASA's printed official photo captions. - Mariner 6 and 7 flew over Mars' equator and south polar regions, analysing the atmosphere and the surface with remote sensors and relaying to Earth hundreds of grayscale pictures. The mission goals were to study the surface and atmosphere of Mars in close flybys, so as to establish the basis for future investigations and to demonstrate and develop technologies required for future Mars missions. Two years later, NASA launched Mariner 8 and 9 - the former crashing into the Atlantic immediately, leaving the single surviving orbiter to perform a mission designed for two. Upon its arrival, NASA scientists were further dismayed to find the planet obscured by thick dust storms. Nevertheless, the mission turned out a complete success: after the dust had settled, the probe managed to send back excellent pictures of the surface. After 349 days in orbit, Mariner 9 had transmitted no fewer than 7329 images, covering 85% of Mars' surface. The images revealed river beds, craters, massive extinct volcanoes (such as Olympus Mons, the largest known volcano in the Solar System), canyons, evidence of wind and water erosion and deposition, weather fronts, and fogs. Mars' moons, Phobos and Deimos, were also photographed. The findings from the mission underpinned the later Viking program. - The exploration of Mars continues: the summer 2020 launch window saw the United Arab Emirates send an orbiter on the Al Amal (Hope) Mars Mission. It arrived in February 2021 to study the Martian atmosphere and weather.
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Raulin, [Joseph] / Burdach, Daniel Christian (Übs.).
Abhandlung der Krankheiten der Sechswöchnerinnen, nebst ihrer Heilart, auf Befehl des Ministerii beschrieben. Leipzig & Amsterdam, Johann Schreuder, 1773.
XX, (2), 308, (28) SS. Mit gest. Porträtfrontispiz. Grüner Pappband der Zeit (stärker fleckig) mit goldgepr. Rückenschildchen. Dreiseitig gesprenkelter Rotschnitt. 8vo. Erste deutsche Ausgabe der wichtigen gynäkologischen Schrift. - Der Pappband am Vordergelenk oben eingerissen und mit stärkeren Wasserspuren; innen sauber und nur schwach wasserrandig. Blake 371. OCLC 257715666. Nicht bei Wellcome.
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Schötz, Wolfgang, Swabian pharmacist (d. 1695).
Flora delicians, sive icones plantarum ex hortis, pratis et nemoribus nostratibus collectarum, artificisque penicillo exhibitarum studio Wolfgangi Schoetzij pharmacopaei Memmingensis. Memmingen, 1676.
Folio (208 x 310 mm). Latin ms. and illustrations on paper. 184 ff. with gilt-raised title-page and a total of 292 watercolour and gouache plant illustrations (1 double-page), captioned and numbered 1-290 by a contemporary hand (nos. 45 and 149 assigned twice). 19th century green half cloth over marbled boards. Stored in custom-made half morocco case. Unique, museum-quality manuscript herbal, previously unknown to research, compiled for the Memmingen pharmacist Wolfgang Schötz by an unidentified but obviously professionally trained artist. The nearly 300 watercolours and gouaches, all impressively accomplished, show the principal Central European medicinal, poisonous, spice and ornamental plants as they were to be found in the gardens, meadows and forests of the free imperial city of Memmingen: hollyhock, tarragon, snow pea, prunella, dandelion, spiked rampion (phyteuma spicatum), swallow-wort (asclepias vincetoxicum), echium, caper spurge (euphorbia lathyris), white bryony (wild hop, Bryonia alba), staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina), poppy (papaver rhoeas), banewort (atropa belladonna), foxglove (digitalis), hemlock (Conium maculatum), as well as splendid tulips, irises and martagon lilies, Jacob's ladder (polemonium), rose, chrysanthemum, gentian, daffodil, barberry, etc. The shapes of the leaves and blossoms, often also of the roots and bulbs are rendered with extreme precision; occasionally, the illustration is enlivened with beetles, caterpillars and other insects, drawn with similarly meticulous realism. The Latin and German captions are apparently by two different writers; some of the Latin annotations may be in Schötz's own hand. The quality of the draughtsmanship and colouring approaches that of the roughly contemporaneous studies by Nicolas Robert, whose documentation of the plants in the French royal gardens, commissioned by the court of Versailles, were famous even then and remain so to this day. - The pharmacist Wolfgang Schötz (Schütz) also served as judge in the municipal court of his native Memmingen. Correspondence in his hand with the German physician and alchemist Johann Joachim Becker (1635-82) has survived in the latter scholar's posthumous papers in Rostock. Schötz was considered "the largest and strongest man" in town; when he died in 1695, ten men were needed to bear his mortal remains to the graveyard (cf. J. F. Unold, Geschichte der Stadt Memmingen [1826], p. 292). - Title-page somewhat duststained and rubbed. Leaves numbered 1-183 in pencil in the later 19th century, probably during rebinding; a few leaves transposed. A few edge flaws (some with early repairs); edges somewhat fingerstained and dampstained throughout with a larger dampstain near the end, but illustrations preserved in brilliant original colour. A masterpiece of botanical illustration.
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Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm et al.
Miscellanea Berolinensia ad Incrementum Scientiarum [...]. Vols. I & II. Berlin, J. C. Papenius / Haude & Spener, 1723/1749.
4to. (16), 392 pp. (12), 188 pp. With one engraved frontispiece, 40 engraved folding plates, and several illustrations in the text. Later marbled wrappers. The first two volumes of the "Miscellanea Berolinensia", the scientific periodical of the Berlin Academy of Sciences (vol. 1, first issued in 1710, is present in the 1749 reprint). Bound in a single volume, they contain remarkable contributions by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, among which is his "Brevis descriptio machinae arithmeticae", the description of Leibniz's famous calculating machine: the first stepped-drum calculator, being the first machine that could perform multiplication and division - an invention of major importance in the history of computing. Further, this issue includes a notable treatise on the game Go, also by Leibniz, illustrated by a folding plate showing two Japanese men playing this game. - Among the other contributors are the mathematicians Jakob Hermann and Philipp Naudé the younger, as well as the astronomers Johann Wilhelm Wagner, Christoph Langhansen and Gottfried Teuber. - The plates show Leibniz's calculating machine as well as fossils, celestial bodies and eclipses, a threshing machine, medals, and calculations with geometrical sketches. - Somewhat browned throughout. Old bookseller's ticket of Sifton, Praed & Co., London, to verso of first title-page. A fine copy of two publications reflecting the active academic scene of Berlin.
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