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

First collected edition of these two works, originally published at Oxford in 1701 (Physica) and 1718 (Astronomia) respectively, illustrated with a title vignette, 12 folding plates for physics (experiments, diagrams, geometry), 29 for astronomy, and 6 for trigonometry, numbered I to XLVII.

Contemporary marbled brown sheep binding. Spine with raised bands richly decorated. Red morocco title label. Worn binding. Headcaps torn away. Joints split at head and foot, along two compartments for the upper joint. Corners heavily bumped. Paper more or less browned.

Treatise and manual of astronomy and physics with various short treatises, including one...

First edition illustrated with two title vignettes designed by Picart.

19th-century black Bradel binding in full boards. Orange calf title labels. Small rubbing to headcap. Handsome copy.

A major work on generation and embryology, in which one discovers the hypothesis of chromosomes as well as that of environmental influence. Bonnet perfects his thesis according to which every being exists previously in germ form in nature, thus the embryo already exists in the seminal fluid, and generation is merely the simple development of the germ, which, from small, develops through nutrition; the germ already containing everything that will be developed. Although...

First French edition, illustrated with 3 folding plates containing numerous figures.

Contemporary marbled blonde calf binding. Spine with raised bands, decorated. Red morocco title label. Two small restorations to upper cover. Handsome copy.

Fundamental work on the theory of generation. The conclusions reached by Spallanzani precede those of Pasteur by nearly a century. He notably refutes the theory of spontaneous generation; it is while working on the refutation of this famous concept that Spallanzani discovers the role of spermatozoa and ovaries in mammals, through his observations on external reproduction in frogs; he will moreover be the first to...

The rare first edition of this pamphlet.
Stitched pamphlet, unbound.

The commission of agriculture and arts was founded in 1794 and Parmentier was from its creation an eminent and influential member. The potato was soon perceived, thanks to Parmentier, as a means to combat famine and food shortages, whether for humans or animals.

NB: This work is available at the bookshop on request within 48 hours.

First edition, rare.

Contemporary full blond calf bindings, mottled. Smooth spines decorated with urn tools and fillets. Red morocco lettering-pieces and green morocco volume labels, the latter additionally bearing the letters AB, NZ... Rich border of palmettes and frieze on the covers, with on the upper cover: Prix des Ecoles Académiques; and on the lower cover: Lille 1812. Rubbing. Some corners bumped. A handsome and highly decorative set.

The sought-after first edition, quite rare.

Contemporary full brown sheep binding. Decorated spine with raised bands. Brown morocco title and volume labels. Head of volume II worn. A stain on one cover. 6 corners slightly bumped. Right corner of endpaper of volume II torn and missing. The first leaf of the catalogue is absent. Good copy overall.

First edition. Rare.

Half tan sheep bindings, smooth spines decorated with double gilt fillets showing some rubbing traces, two lower headcaps affected by small lacks due in one case to slight worm damage not affecting the text at all, and brown stains, upper headcap of volume 2 abraded, gilt names of a previous owner at foot, one joint of volume 3 cracked at head, marbled paper boards, later but 19th^century bindings. Rare and handsome copy almost entirely free from foxing.

Swedish entomologist and military officer who studied under Linnaeus. The Insects of Sweden (Insecta suecica) forms his most important contribution to...

Second edition statement. The preface is signed: "I. F. A. O." Published by Lieutaud de Trois-Villes.

Contemporary full speckled paper boards binding. Gilt title. Foxing, particularly on the title page.

This naturalist from Poitou was well known in scientific circles, and his study is distinguished by its rigorous observation and seriousness. The publisher notes the impossibility of obtaining the first edition, justifying this edition, and quoting Dreux du Radier about the author: "He could serve as a model in this genre, if we did not have the writings... of Réaumur".

Second edition, rare, after the first of 1789.

Contemporary pamphlet, in pink paper. Title label. Spine cracked. Fine copy in condition as issued, uncut.

This treatise on volcanology concerning the volcanoes of Auvergne is important for the evolution of this science, still young at the time. The author studies precisely how volcanoes changed the landscape, cataloguing lava flows and their effects; tracing centuries of geology, when the sea bordered the volcanoes... Manuscript and bibliographic note in pencil at the bottom of the title page.

First edition, quite rare; a counterfeit edition appeared on the same date in Amsterdam.

Contemporary full glazed and marbled blonde calf binding. Decorated smooth spines. Red morocco title and volume labels. A small lack at head of volume I. Five corners slightly bumped. Rubbing. Good copy.

Without doubt Bonnet's most ambitious and remarkable study which earned him the designation of father of modern biology. This work of theoretical biology drawing its source from multi-disciplinary reflection and its postulate from Leibniz (the immortality of the soul) claims that the Earth periodically suffers universal catastrophes which destroy almost all life and that...

New edition for Polydore Vergil's book of inventions and first edition for Cicero's sentences. Fine italic impressions. Printer's devices on the title page. The Cicero edition is absent from English catalogues.

De rerum inventoribus was placed on the Index and republished in 1575 in an expurgated form, and the edition we present is therefore not expurgated. The first French translation appears to have been published in 1527 according to a copy at the University of Glasgow, although contradictory information gives 1528 as the date of the first French edition in Latin by Robert Estienne. Brunet gives 1499 for the date of the first edition.

Half...

French first edition and first translation into vernacular after the original Latin, which had appeared in the Elementa physiologica in 8 volumes, published from 1757 to 1766.

Full speckled blonde calf bindings. Raised band spines with ornamentation. Red morocco title and volume labels. Head caps worn, same for the foot cap of volume 2. Two corners bumped on volume 2. Volume label of volume 1 missing. Some leaves yellowed.

Important study devoted to the phenomena of generation, fertilization and embryology, with a description of sexual organs and their function. By establishing a state of contemporary knowledge, Haller refutes certain...

Contemporary brown sheep, spine in compartments, headpiece and one corner repaired, wormtrack to middle of upper margin, a few insignificant wormholes. The final engraving is shaved and lacking the last lines of text from the legend. A very good copy.

Du Verney's first work; he was renowned for his knowledge of anatomy and physiology, was tutor to the Dauphin and taught in the Botanical Gardens.

This is the first scientific monograph on the structure of the ear and its illnesses, and is therefore very significant. It played a determining role in the understanding of this organ, whose study...

New edition. The first volume of these Observations appeared in 1719, the second forming the sequel in 1725. In this edition, volume I is from 1730 and the second from 1737. It should be noted that it is extremely rare to find the two volumes together, especially in uniform binding.

Contemporary full sheep bindings. Raised band spines with ornaments. Beige morocco title labels and red morocco volume labels. Worn headcaps. Surface wear to boards. Despite the noted defects, a handsome copy, well bound.

Bougeant, famous Jesuit scholar, is the architect of this compilation which borrows articles from periodicals such as the Journal des...

First edition, translated from German by Baron d'Holbach, illustrated with a frontispiece and 15 folding copperplate engravings.

Contemporary full calf binding. Decorated spine with raised bands. Red morocco title label. Headcaps worn with visible endbands. Joint of lower board cracked at head over first two compartments. Surface wear with losses to upper board. Two corners slightly bumped. Title label renewed.

Compilation of several works on glassmaking assembled and translated by Baron d'Holbach (his preface presents the different authors), notably the important treatise by Neri (1612) who first published the method of making colored glass, crystal...

New edition. The original was published in 1740, without the supplements. The Supplementum primum is dated 1754 and the secundum 1760. Illustrated with a frontispiece portrait, title vignettes, one plate in the first part of the Supplementum secundum and a second plate in the third part. The Supplementum parts have separate title pages.

Contemporary full brown calf bindings. Decorated spines with raised bands. Red morocco title labels and volume labels. Title label of volume III partly lacking. Lower headcap of the Supplementum primum worn and upper headcap likewise. Frontispiece detached.

The work forms an...

First edition. Rare. Engraved title page with printer’s vignette (a beehive and bees). A fine edition, handsomely printed on quality laid paper. The copy is authenticated by the author’s original signature.
The copy bears a preliminary page preceding the half-title for a prize, repeating the same motto found on the binding. The book appears to have been presented by the University or School of Harlem to Bernardo Van Laar in 1799 as a first prize in letters, and seems signed by several professors.
Contemporary full mottled calf binding. Emblematic binding (Athena – or Virtue? – with her attributes reading a book beneath a tree, on her shield: a sword surmounted by the Maltese cross...

The first edition was published in 1565, also in Venice. Printer's device on the title page. Printed in italics.
Full speckled brown paper boards, early 19th century. Red morocco title label. Fillets. Rubbing to headcaps and boards.

Brunet and Graesse have the first edition appearing in 1756; we have not found any trace of this edition.
With 56 folding plates. A scarce work. Not in the Bibliotheque Nationale de France and numerous other great libraries.
Contemporary marbled sheep, spine in 6 decorated compartments. The work consists of a commentary on the notes and propositions left by Marechal de Saxe. These are various, and include the reasons for having a school of instruction for officers, to the use of the bayonet; there is also a curious note on the Tatars and Chinese. 

Rare first edition illustrated with 38 woodcuts in the text and 4 half-page copper engravings (one repeated). A very fine frontispiece by Hoos.) Brunet, 29030.
Half calf binding with smooth spine decorated with small corners. Green title-label, fleurons and wave-pattern fillets. Late 18th-century binding. Two-thirds of the work has browned text, often heavily. The second part lacks a title page.
Jean Scheffer (1621-1679) was born in Strasbourg, he was welcomed to Sweden by Queen Christina and appointed librarian of the academy and obtained through the Queen's protection the chair of eloquence and public law at the University of Uppsala. He also wrote a history of Lapland. The De re...

First edition.
Bound in full marbled beige sheepskin, Spine with raised-band, black title label. Mid-19th century binding.
Emanuel König (1658-1731) was a German physicist and physician from Basel. Strangely, this classic description of the animal kingdom, which includes a rigorous anatomical and mechanical approach, is classified as a work of spiritual magic in the 17th-century library of occult sciences. However, this work served as a basis for Swedenborg in his writings.
Medallion-shaped ex libris Picard Avenionsis.
A damp stain in the middle of the entire book, more or less noticeable.
Not in the Brunet bibliography.

Rare first edition. Not held by the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Brunet II, 1236. Title vignette.

Modern full vellum binding with overlapping flaps. Plain spine, ties. Light marginal dampstaining to first few pages. Some foxing.

Auger Ferrier (1513-1588) of Toulouse was simultaneously a renowned astronomer, physician and physicist (he was one of Catherine de Medici's private physicians). The work is a treatise on the Spanish plague or Spanish pox, otherwise called the Neapolitan disease, which is none other than syphilis and which had been wreaking havoc in France for some time (depending on the country it was also called the French disease)...

New edition, after the first, rare, published in 1784.

In original wrappers. Title page with marginal dampstain and soiling.

Linguet (1736-1794) French writer, lawyer and journalist, he wrote numerous works in various fields, particularly law and political philosophy, his positions and his talents as a polemicist would lead to his imprisonment and eventual execution by guillotine. It was during a period of incarceration that Linguet conceived this work, the fruit of earlier research. Linguet bases himself essentially on Newton to develop his own reflections in the field.

First edition.

In original wrappers, covered with brown paper from the XX^th century.

A scientific mind of the Society of Jesus, Sarrabat obtained the gold medal from the academy of sciences in 1728 for his work on the origin of the salinity of the sea, which he attributed primarily to waters flowing into the sea.

Rare second edition by Blaes illustrated with 12 plates. Rare edition by Thomas Syndenham, not found in European libraries. We do not know if this is the first. Title pages in red and black. Absent from Brunet.

Contemporary full calf binding, decorated spine with raised bands, red morocco title label. Rubbing.

This work by Gerard Blaes (1625-1692), Dutch physicist, anatomist (he was the creator of comparative anatomy) and physician who practiced in Amsterdam and was a famous leader in his field, is one of the most celebrated treatises on teratology, the science of monsters.

Thomas Syndenham (1624-1689) was an English physicist and...

First edition. Rare.

Contemporary full calf bindings. Smooth spines with gilt fillets. Red and black morocco title and volume labels. Gilt fillet borders on covers. All edges gilt. Some rubbing.

Antoine de La Salle (1754-1829), philosopher and scientist, was certainly one of the most curious thinkers of his time; his ideas, sometimes whimsical and muddled, made him the leader of the physico-moral school. Physiognomy naturally plays an important part in this theory. La Mechanique is both a classical treatise on physiognomy and a new way of considering the relationship between morals and the body from an educational perspective. Beyond this...