Scientific, mathematical, astronomical treatises and great discoveries of the Scientific Revolution

First edition.

Half brown shagreen binding ca 1860. Jansenist spine with raised bands. Gilt title. Rubbing to corners. Good copy.
Treatise on animal magnetism by a disciple of Mesmer. Demonstrations and proofs. The work concludes with considerations on the movement by the Marquis de Chastellux.

Second edition statement, after the first published in 1762, with 14 folding tables (most copies announcing only 13). 4 pages of catalogue in fine. Author's preface for this new corrected and expanded edition.
Contemporary full marbled brown sheep binding. Raised band spine with ornaments. Red morocco title label, black morocco volume label. Headcap of volume I torn off, damage to that of volume II. A lack at the tail of volume II. Corners very blunted and stripped. Set very rubbed.
Red stamp on title page: Bibliothèque de M. Héricart de Thury, Conseiller d'état.
Treatise on mineralogy based on Wallerius's system and Linné's classification, with the mechanical properties...

First edition of the Marcello Virgilio translation in Latin, dedicated to Leo X. The princeps edition was based on an old translation by Petrus de Abano (ca. 1250-1316), and published in 1478 in Colle di Val d'Elsa. The original text was written in Greek around 60 AD.
Title page in red and black. 45 lines per page. Colophon : "Florentiæ per hæredes Philippi Iuntæ Florentini. Anno ab incarnatione Domini.1518. Idibus Octobris. Leone decimo Christiana[m] Rempub. gerente." Superb Filippo Giunta printer's mark on verso of last leaf. Bibliographical note in French opposite the title page.
Full modern limp vellum binding, all edges faintly bluish.
A lack of a small piece of paper...

Rare French first edition in the translation by Esprit Pézenas, illustrated with 2 title vignettes and 78 folding plates representing instruments used for physics demonstrations.

Armorial copy with unidentified coat of arms.
Contemporary full porphyry sheep binding. Decorated spine with raised bands. Beige calf title label, brown sheep volume label. One lack to foot of volume I. Light lack to head compartment of volume II and to foot compartment. Split to upper joints at foot of both volumes, 1cm. Corners with leather losses, as well as to edges. The use of acid to achieve the porphyry marbling has caused certain alterations to the leather, notably...

Third edition statement, the first having appeared in 1789. Fine printing.

Contemporary full marbled blonde calf binding. Smooth spine decorated with 3 compartmentalized fleurons. Roulette at head and foot. Black morocco title-label. Triple fillet frame on boards. Edges gilt. Head slightly worn. One corner slightly bumped. Rubbing. A lack along the lower joint at foot. Despite some defects, a high-quality binding.

First edition with a beautiful allegorical frontispiece showing the city of Babylon and its tower of languages in the background, and 4 folding plates of medals and coins.

Armorial copy with the arms of the city of Amsterdam.
Contemporary Dutch binding in full marbled brown sheep. Decorated spine with raised bands. Black morocco title label. Arms of the city of Amsterdam stamped in gilt at the center of the boards. Framing fillet with fleurons in the corners, framing frieze. Edges gilt. Some rubbing. Gilt slightly faded. Handsome copy.

Second edition, after the first published in 1675.
Contemporary flexible vellum binding. Smooth spine with handwritten title, date and place at foot. Head crushed. Soiling and stains. Manuscript ownership inscription on title page. Good copy.

Some years earlier, the author had published a letter with the same title: La génération de l'homme par le moyen des oeufs. A response was soon circulated that mocked and ridiculed the author, even accusing him of blasphemy. Houppeville produced his defense in 1676 in the form of a dialogue between three people: one character defending the thesis of generation through eggs, an arbitrator questioning, and a third character...

• Observations du thermomètre faites pendant les grands froids de Sibérie, par M. Delisle.
• Recherche de statique et de dynamique, par M. le Marquis de Courtivron.
• Expériences de l'electricité appliquées à des paralytiques, par Mrs Morand et...

The most complete collective edition ever published, expanded, reorganized and corrected by the author himself as he explains in the Notice on this new edition. This edition therefore contains works not yet published. Maupertuis specifies that it is a selection of his best works. Title pages in red and black. This edition would be reprinted in 1768 by the same publisher. A frontispiece portrait painted by Tournière and engraved by Dallé representing the author in his travel attire for Lapland. A map of the meridian arc in volume II. Numerous mathematical diagrams in volume IV.

Contemporary full marbled brown sheep bindings. Raised band spines with ornament. Red morocco...

Second edition, after the first published in 1779, expanded by Rouland, and illustrated with 8 folding plates at the end, compared to 5 for the first edition.

Contemporary full marbled calf binding. Ornate spine with raised bands. Red morocco title label. Two corners bumped. Rubbing. One loss at head. Light foxing on the first leaves. Good copy.

Awakened to experimental physics as a student of Abbé Nollet, Sigaud de la Fond assisted the chemist Macquer in his experiments on gases and notably hydrogen, verifying that its combustion produced water. He relates in this work his experiments on different types of air, and summarizes the work of foreign...

Second edition statement, rare, published after the original of 1783, and illustrated with 9 plates in fine, of the aerostatic machine and the flying boat.

Bound in full limp vellum binding, reused. Smooth spine with author's name in pen and date at foot. Stains and soiling. Trace of dampstain to lower margin of frontispiece. Leaves browned at beginning of work, and several others scattered throughout bearing browning.

First and important work on aerostation. It brings together several memoirs relating the first balloon flights (On inflammable gas, Observations made by M. Jeaurat, On rubber, Accounts of the first flights at Annonay...

First edition.
Bound in slightly later (ca. 1820) half navy sheep. Smooth spines decorated with four small tools and fillets. Some rubbing, particularly to the boards. A pleasing copy, relatively clean, printed on good laid paper.

Complete first edition in six volumes, illustrated with decorative headpieces. 

Contemporary bindings in full marbled brown calf, spines with six raised bands decorated with red morocco title and volume labels, fleurons and double gilt frame fillets, triple fillets stamped in blind framing the boards, double gilt fillets on the leading edges, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, all edges marbled. Title pages in red and black. Headcaps worn, title labels of volumes 1, 3, 4 and 6 and volume labels of volumes 4, 5 and 6 missing, some lacks to the compartments, leather split at the joint of the first volume, joints of other volumes often slightly cracked at head or foot, boards and...

First edition, illustrated with 4 very attractive headpieces by Pronk, 4 tailpieces and 13 folding plates on polyps. Armorial copy with the arms stamped on the spine (ermines and macles) of the Rohan-Chabot family. The armorial bindings of the Rohan and Rohan-Chabot families have the distinctive feature of bearing the heraldic devices exclusively on the spine.

Contemporary full blonde calf binding. Spine with raised bands decorated with crowned ermines and macles. Joints entirely cracked. Headcaps worn. Corners slightly bumped from rubbing. Occasional minor worming, final plates with upper margin soiled.

It was in these memoirs that...

First edition, with the illustrations of the author (often missing) and 79 plates (plate 27-28 double page) hors texte steel-engraved by Forestier after drawings by Antoine Chazal.
Strictly contemporary Romantic binding in brown calf, spine in six compartments richly decorated with gilt fillets and blindtooled arabesques, boards with blindtooled arabesques to corners, double fillet frame and gilt initials ‘A.D.' to centre, gilt roulette framing marbled endpapers and pastedowns, double gilt fillets to edges of covers. Binding very skilfully restored.
Jacques-Pierre Maygrier (1771-1835) was a student of Antoine Dubois, the obstetrician of Empress Marie-Louise. He practiced at the...

New edition, illustrated with 14 plates, most folding.
Contemporary full brown marbled calf binding. Decorated spine with raised bands. Red morocco title label, and black wax volume label. 2 corners slightly bumped. Rubbing. Good copy.
Notable articles in each of the mentioned sections include: Experiments to determine if the strength of ropes exceeds the sum of the strengths of the threads composing these same ropes, by M. de Réaumur. Observations on the vegetation of truffles, by M. Geoffroy. Observations on fecal matter, by M. Homberg. Remarks on certain colors, by M. de La Hire. Rules and remarks for the construction of equalities, by M. Rolle. On different ways in which...

Illustrated edition with 16 folding plates, 8 per volume.
Contemporary full marbled brown calf bindings. Raised band spines with gilt ornaments. Red morocco title-labels, and black wax volume labels. Small lack to head of volume I. One corner slightly bumped. Rubbing. Last errata leaf frayed at margin. Good copies.
Notable articles to be retained in each of the mentioned sections include the following: On beam resistance by M. Parent. On conchoids in general by M. de La Hire. Observations on coral analysis by M. Geoffroy. Reflections on magnetic variations by M. Houssaye. General method for finding an infinity of new curved lines by M. Réaumur. Physical explanation of the...

First edition.
Contemporary limp parchment binding. Smooth, unlettered spine. Brown stains on both boards, more extensive on the upper board. Binding detached from upper board. Tears to the lower margin of leaf li.
Complete set of navigation tables (latitudes, moon, winds, ports...), with 64 pages explaining these tables.

Second edition, illustrated with two musical plates (examples of tunes that can be taught to canaries) and one depicting cages.

Contemporary binding in full speckled brown sheep. Ornate spine with raised bands. Red morocco title label. Joints cracked at head and foot. Corners bumped and rubbed. Scuffing. Scattered foxing. Yellow dampstain on the first six leaves.

Treatise and manual on breeding Canary birds in captivity: feeding, nesting, care, prices, varieties... These aviary birds were particularly appreciated for their beauty, colors and song.

First edition of this treatise, published following the four volumes whose editorial dates run from 1782 for the first volume to 1788 for the last, namely the Traité de l'aimant, which is therefore often missing from the series.

Contemporary full red morocco binding. Spine with raised bands richly decorated. Title and volume labels in black morocco. Triple fillet frame on covers. Roulette on leading edges and board-edges. Gilt edges. Domino paper with gilt stars. Corners rubbed.

Very handsome copy, perfectly bound in a master binding, very fresh.

The Traité de l'aimant is the last work published...

The rare French first edition, illustrated with 9 folding plates containing 22 figures. The first edition, in Italian, dates from 1765. Two manuscript leaves in fine handwriting are bound at the rear on the properties of gunpowder, with a comparative table of tests for sulphur, saltpetre and charcoal.

Later binding, ca. 1830, in full glazed navy calf. Spine with raised bands handsomely decorated with central tool and corner tools in each compartment, roulette at head and foot, geometric roulette on bands, repeated as interior border. Green calf title-label. Framing border on boards. Edges gilt. Rubbing to boards, particularly the upper board, with scratches.

First French edition and the first translation into the vernacular, following the original Latin text published in the Elementa physiologica in eight volumes between 1757 and 1766. Copy with unidentified arms, bearing angular ermine spots on the covers. The Rohan or Rohan Chabot families affixed only the emblems or charges of their heraldry to their books, but we have been unable to identify a family behind the use of ermine spots, as these occur in too many coats of arms.

Contemporary full mottled calf bindings. Spines gilt in compartments with thistle tools. Red morocco title- and volume-labels, gilt-tooled. Gilt roll at foot. Triple gilt fillet border on covers with...

Copy in original wrappers without cream interim covers. Manuscript annotation on first endpaper.
Some marginal tears to endpapers which serve as covers.
Presumed author: Henri de Goyon de la Plombanie. In the journal des savans of 1752, article titled: Mémoire sur la manière d'élever les vers à soye.
The first part is a series of advice for successful silkworm breeding; the second consists of observations on the management of silkworms; the last relates a method for harvesting silkworm eggs. Following, a detailed table of the work's contents.
Rare.

First edition published anonymously in Lyon and not in Amsterdam as stated on the title page. The second edition published on the same date by the same publisher has different pagination and a smaller format (12mo); it should not be confused with the true first edition (64 pp. for ours versus 96 pp. for the other).

Binding in full vellum. Endpapers replaced.

This is a pamphlet in which the author attacks and ridicules the principal physicians of the period, and expounds the main features of his materialist doctrine. The book was condemned to be torn and burned by order of Parliament on July 9, 1746. Too often forgotten is that La Mettrie was himself a...

Rare first edition, comprising 9 plates, including 3 folding plates.
Contemporary full mottled brown calf bindings. Spines with raised bands, gilt decoration. Title and volume labels in brown morocco. Blue mottled edges. A handsome copy.

First French edition, after the original German published in 1732 under the title: Psychologia empirica.

Contemporary full brown sheep binding. Decorated spine with raised bands. Red morocco title-label. One lack at head, similar lacks at foot. Joints cracked at head and foot. Corners slightly bumped. Title page with browning to margins.

Wolf sought to redefine philosophy as a whole based on a stable principle of knowledge founded on deduction and the model of geometry; a rationalist, he was a disciple of Leibniz from whom he borrowed many concepts. And yet for the first time in the history of philosophy, Wolf conferred an autonomy on...

First collected edition, bringing together Opuscules de physique animale et végétale and Expériences pour servir à l'histoire de la génération des animaux et des plantes; avec une ébauche de l'histoire des êtres organisés avant leur fécondation par Jean Sennebier. Translation by Jean Sennebier. The third volume: Expériences, etc, bears the imprint of Barthélémy Chirol in Geneva with the same date of 1787 (same imprint as for the original published in 1785). Edition illustrated with 9 folding plates at the end, 3 in the first volume and 6 in the third.

Contemporary full speckled calf bindings. Smooth spines decorated with...

Contemporary spotted sheep, spine with four tools and roulettes to head and foot, red morocco title- and black morocco volume- labels, roulette frame to covers. Spines uniformly and slightly faded, lack to first blind-ruled compartment of spine of volume one. A good copy.

The work, in the form of an alphabetical dictionary, provides an overview of contemporary knowledge of natural history (mineralogy, botany, zoology, entomology, astronomy, and so on). Each article...

The rare first edition. Printed in two columns. Vignette of a sphere on the title page. 14 in-text figures and diagrams and numerous tables, notably a calendar of the position of the stars and zodiac figures, tables of latitudes and longitudes.

Contemporary limp vellum binding with flaps. Smooth spine unlettered. Traces of ties. Split to upper joint at head over two centimeters. Various stains. Lacking the first endleaf before the title. Lower right corner of title page missing. Brown stain to lower right corner from leaf 14 to leaf 32.

Commentary by Georg Henisch on the treatise of the sphere by Proclus, the celebrated Neo-Platonic philosopher of the...

First edition, illustrated with 2 folding plates on strong paper. The separately paginated section, Précis de journaux, bears the date 1786 in its colophon.

Full marbled and glazed brown calf binding. Decorated raised spine. Red morocco title label. 2 corners slightly bumped. From page 96 to the end, pale yellow dampstains to margins and on the first pages of the separately paginated section, affecting the entire page, but without real consequence. Good copy.

This surprising memoir traces all the curative applications of electricity on man: rheumatism, deafness, toothache, ophthalmia, paralysis, epilepsy. Case descriptions and...