Science

Second edition of this treatise, first published in 1771 and reissued again in 1813 (see Mennessier de La Lance I, 162).

Our copy is offered stitched, in its provisional blue paper wrappers, the spine reinforced with an adhesive strip.

Second edition, revised and expanded (see Backer & Sommervogel VI, 1557). Only three copies recorded in the CCFr (BnF, Dijon and Nîmes).

Contemporary binding in mottled fawn calf, spine with five raised bands and richly gilt panelled compartments, modern burgundy morocco lettering-piece, some rubbing to spine and joints, headcaps trimmed, triple gilt fillet frame on covers, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, speckled edges, bookplate pasted to one pastedown.

The first edition of this small universal calendar appeared in 1711 in the form of a simple in-folio placard.

Each subsequent issue expanded the content: the 1731 edition was intended to serve as a supplement to the large Calendrier published by Rollin in the same year.

Born in Aire, Rebecque (1663–1753) was chiefly a preacher and confined his activity to his native regions (Aire, Douai, Saint-Omer, etc.).

Bound after it, by the same author: "Calendrier du monde, où l'on donne une méthode très-aisée de trouver à chaque année depuis 1741, jusqu'à l'an 2244 de Jésus-Christ, tout l'ordre des tems, avec la plus grande exactitude pour les royaumes & les peuples qui ont reçu la Réformation grégorienne : et de trouver même pour chaque mois dans si long espace de tems, les nouvelles lunes & leurs phases, aussi exactement qu'il est nécessaire pour les usages de la vie civile", printed at Aire by H. F. Boubert de Corbeville in 1742 (title, vi pp., 68 pp.). Backer & Sommervogel VI, 1558.

First edition: the work forms the natural complement to the preceding title (see Backer & Sommervogel VI, 1558).

Provenance: from the library of Emmanuel Jeanbernat Barthélémy de Ferrari Doria, with his armorial bookplate pasted to one pastedown.

Rare group of six fascicules, all in the original edition.

Bradel-style binding in green mottled boards, smooth unlettered spine, printed title label mounted at the centre of the upper cover; modern binding.

Not recorded by Polak. Apparently no copy located in the CCFr.

A stain at the head of the title page.

This curious compilation, bearing almost no identifying information, appears to be particularly rare.

It contains:

- 1. A notice to mariners concerning the change in the lighting of the lighthouse in the Bay of the Somme, scheduled for 25 Pluviôse, Year IX [14 February 1801].

- 2. An instruction on filters for purifying water, signed by the health officers Dubrueil, Thaumur, Dupré, and Billard.

- 3. A notice on naval provisions, signed by Rivoire.

- 4. A description of the sillomètre (an instrument for measuring longitude at sea), addressed to the editor of the Moniteur by the former journalist Charles Mozard (1755–1810), who had served as Commissioner of France’s commercial relations in Boston from 1794 to 1799 and was at that time among the contributors to the Moniteur.

- 5. A discourse by Bernardin de Saint-Pierre delivered at the Institut (Nautical experiments, and dietary and moral observations, proposed for the benefit and health of sailors on long-distance voyages). This contribution had already been printed in La Décade philosophique, littéraire et politique of 30 Vendémiaire, Year IX [22 October 1800].

- 6. Two practical notices on means of preserving ships (from fire, water, and rats). The nature of these texts and their immediate sources suggest that this publication was probably conceived as a trial maritime periodical intended to make available sea-related articles previously published in other journals. For reasons unknown, the experiment was not continued, a circumstance that is fairly common in the history of periodicals.

First edition of this pioneering work in the history of psychiatry (cf. Garrison & Morton 4920; Semelaigne I, pp. 68-73; Waller records only the 1770 German translation; Wellcome III 547; Blake 277).

Contemporary half calf with vellum-tipped corners, smooth spines gilt with decorative rolls, some rubbing and small wormholes to the spines, marbled paper boards, sprinkled edges; bindings from the early nineteenth century.

Ink stains on pp. 72–76 of the first volume, a black ink spot at the head of the lower cover of the second volume, a few minor and unobtrusive foxmarks.

For Lorry, not all melancholic patients are driven by a single fixed idea, and melancholy is a state of mental disorder of physical origin, in which the mind—sharply disturbed by objects either external or produced by the imagination—becomes unable to resist, repel, or reason through the ideas arising from them. He identifies two forms of the condition, according to whether its origin lies in the solid parts or in the humours, which he terms nervous melancholy and humoral melancholy respectively.

"La mélancolie nerveuse peut parfois constituer l'hystérie chez la femme, l'hypochondrie chez l'homme ; ou bien c'est la manie vraie, ou encore, sans le moindre symptôme maniaque, elle consiste uniquement en convulsions. Il semble y avoir peu de différences entre la mélancolie et la manie, mais le mélancolique délire surtout sur ce qui le concerne en particulier, tandis que le délire maniaque s'étend à tous les sujets". Cf. Semelaigne.

Lorry (1726–1783) may also be regarded as the founder of dermatology in France (Tractatus de morbis cutaneis, Paris, G. Cavelier, 1777).

A pleasant copy, with generous margins.

Rare first edition.

Only two copies recorded in the CCF (BnF and Marseille).

“…their change of residence, abandoning the old city to settle in the new districts? A memoir awarded by the Société académique de médecine de Marseille at its public session of 1 August 1819; (…). Enlarged with the plan of a medical topography of the city of Marseille, which the author proposes to publish.” Marseille, Joseph-François Achard, 1819, 8vo, disbound. Title, 40 pp. Only two copies recorded in the CCF (BnF and Marseille). Very rare. The author was a physician attached to the dispensaries and the maternity hospital of Marseille.

First edition of the French translation prepared by F. Soulès of "An account on the present state of Nova Scotia", originally published in 1786.

Our copy is offered unbound.

Pages 31 to 39 are devoted to fishing practices.

First edition of this paean to intoxication, adorned with a charming engraved frontispiece depicting Bacchus seated on a barrel, holding a wine cup in one hand and a bunch of grapes in the other.

Cf. Vicaire 326. Bitting 415. Barbier II, 75 d. Oberlé, Une bibliothèque bachique, 523 (for the 1798 ed.).

Bound in contemporary fawn half-calf with corners, spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt fillets, marbled paper boards, corners slightly worn, edges speckled red.

This work abounds with anecdotes and quotations drawn from the history of many lands. It asserts "that wine gives wit," offers "a catalogue of some illustrious drinkers," and claims "that wine wins us friends & reconciles us with our enemies," or again "that it is good for one’s health to get drunk now and then," though one must not "carry drunkenness too far." Born into a family of Protestant refugees,

Albert-Henri de Sallengre (The Hague, 1694–1723) was a lawyer at the Court of Holland, advisor to the Prince of Orange, and financial commissioner for the States General of the United Provinces.

Minor brown spot to the right margin of the first leaves, a few ink annotations and a stamp on the slightly soiled white endpapers.

A pleasing and rare copy.

Provenance: from the library of Fridrich Otto de Munchhausen, with his engraved bookplate affixed to the front pastedown.

First edition, with a single copy recorded in the CCF (Dijon).

Our copy is preserved in its original wrappers and housed in a plain blue interim cover, with a mounted title label at the head of the spine.

Some foxing.

The sole edition of this compilation, conceived primarily for fiscal purposes: indirect taxes at the time were levied chiefly on beverages.

The bookseller Louis Rondonneau (1759–1834) is renowned as the author, compiler, or editor of numerous legal codes, manuals, collections, and repertories of legislation and jurisprudence.

Third edition.

Our copy is preserved in its original state, issued in temporary blue paper wrappers, with some losses to the corners and a mounted title label on the spine.

Some light foxing.

Pierre-Auguste Mutel (1795–1847) entered the École Polytechnique in 1813, graduating 34th in the class of 1815, and went on to serve in the artillery corps.

Manuscript ex-libris of Becquerel, dated 24 October 1833; it is difficult to determine which member of this illustrious family should be associated with this provenance.

First edition (cf. Not in Quérard or Musset-Pathay. Oberlé 101-02.).

Including, with the appended pieces (cf. infra), the account of the thirteen experiments conducted by Maupin between 1772 and 1777 on the handling of wines.

Bound at the end:

• 1. Suite de la cinquième expérience, contenant la seconde lettre de M. de la Galaisière & celle que M. Bertin m'a fait l'honneur de m'écrire à son occasion. S.l.n.d., 2 ll. unnumbered.
• 2. Suite des expériences de la nouvelle manipulation des vins. Seconde partie. S.l.n.d. [Paris, April 1781], 30 pp., with an unnumbered leaf of receipt.

Bradel-style binding in half bottle-green long-grain morocco, smooth spine tooled with gilt fillets, date gilt at foot, cat's-eye patterned paper boards, bookplate mounted at the head of one pastedown; modern binding.

Spine and lower cover marginally faded and sunning, light upper-marginal dampstaining.

First edition from the Imprimerie Royale, complete in nine quarto volumes with all 262 black-and-white engraved plates.

Contemporary full polished and mottled calf, spines with raised bands decorated with guilloche tooling and gilt ornaments in the compartments, red morocco lettering-pieces and numbering-pieces, triple gilt fillet border on boards, double gilt fillet on board edges, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, marbled edges. Minor variations in the tooling on volume 3.

In this set, some headcaps missing, 6 cm joints split at foot of volume 1, 6.5 cm and 6 cm at foot of volume 2, 3.5 cm at head of volume 3, corners bumped, scratches and minor restoration to boards, including a more significant repair on volume 7 measuring 11 cm, browning in left margin of lower board of volume 4.

In this copy: some worming, several instances of dampstaining throughout the set, more pronounced in volumes 1, 3, and 8, some tears, restored on the title page and on pp. ix and xxiii of volume 1, also restored on p. 496 of volume 2, on pp. 259 and 260 of volume 3, on pp. 481 and 482 of volume 4, and on pp. 173 to 176 of volume 5.

Copy with some marginal annotations: in volume 2, a manuscript footnote added in ink on p. 541 ("Voyez les Planches enluminures n°491"), erroneous manuscript dates in ink in volumes 2 and 8, the number "18" annotated in ink in the upper right corner of the rear endpaper of volume 9.

Copy richly illustrated with drawings by Jacques de Sève, engraved by Robert de Launay, Lucas, Michel, Madeleine-Thérèse Rousselet, C. Baron, Hubert, Catherine Haussard, Carl Gottlieb Guttenberg, Jean-Guillaume Blanchon, Menil, Dufour, Louis Claude Legrand, Claude Mathieu Fessard, Elisabeth Haussard, François Hubert, A.-B. Duhamel, Mlle Mansard, C. Baquoy, Heinrich Guttenberg, Laurent Guyot, Benazeth, Schmitz, Marie-Anne Rousselet (M. R. veuve Tardieu), Louis-Gabriel Monnier, Pierre-Étienne Moitte, Jean-Louis de Lignon, Levillain, N. du Four, Thomas Chambars, Nicolas Thomas, Luigi Valperga, and George Louis Biosse.

Accompanied by two additional plates, heightened in color, numbered XX and XXII, from a volume 7 of the Histoire naturelle des oiseaux.

First edition of this concise treatise on rural economy, attributed to the Duke of Sully, the famed minister of Henri IV, born at Rosny and who bore the name of that estate.

His well-known commitment to the development of agriculture has passed into national lore. However, it cannot be excluded that another author, sharing the same territorial designation, may be responsible for the text.

Contemporary full mottled fawn sheep, spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt compartments and gilt tools, gilt fillets, Havana morocco lettering-piece, gilt rolls to the headcaps, gilt fillets to board edges, red sprinkled edges.

Some repairs to the binding. Manuscript ex-libris inscriptions “Cousturier, Prieur de Champsanglard [Creuse]” and “Denesmond, prêtre” on the title-page of the first volume.

The booklet is followed, as very often with this title, by two short agronomic treatises, which vary from one copy to another.

In this copy:

• 1. A new edition of the Instruction pour le jardin potager (1678), attributed to an Aristote “jardinier de Puteaux”—obviously not his real name—who authored several small works on fruit trees and flowers (Musset-Pathay, 806).
• 2. A summary of the Nouvelle instruction pour connoistre les bons fruits (1670), attributed sometimes to Jean Merlet, sometimes to Claude Saint-Etienne. At the end is an interesting Catalogue des poires selon les mois de les manger (from July to September). Cf. Musset-Pathay 1390. Manuscript ex-libris inscriptions “Cousturier, Prieur de Champsanglard [Creuse]” and “Denesmond, prêtre”.

Rare first edition of this small opus, traditionally regarded as constituting the fourth part (of five) of the *Euphormionis Satyricon*, an allegorical satire of the tastes of King James I, and the author’s second most important work after his *Argenis* (cf. Brunet I, 652.)

Full brown calf, spine with five raised bands, compartments decorated with gilt floral tools, cherry-calf lettering piece, headcaps restored, trace of a shelving label at the foot of the spine, single blind fillet framing the boards, gilt fillets to board edges, lower corners rubbed, sprinkled edges, slightly later binding.

Loss restored to the title-page, which also bears two ink annotations; edges slightly trimmed.

The first part appeared under the London imprint in 1605, the second in 1607 under the Paris imprint, and the third in 1611 under the title “Apologia Euphormionis pro se”.

However, these last two texts are not works of fiction and are only loosely connected to the first two parts.

The present work, which may be rendered as Icon animorum, is in fact an essay offering, from life, a description and classification of the traits that mark both the differences and the affinities among Europeans.

Barclay examines their inner and outward signs, stemming sometimes from the conditions of human nature and education, sometimes from national character and from social or professional determinants.

Here the European man receives one of his earliest and most contrasted definitions, blending history and geography, culture and secularized religious ideals, in a treatise that eludes generic classification, abounds in stylistic gems, and compels today’s reader to reflect on his own preconceptions.

This work is in fact the reissue of the original edition, published under a new title: the 1772 edition was entitled "Dissertation sur les vins".

One hundred blank leaves have been bound at the end of the text.

The work saw an expanded edition in 1782, which was subsequently reprinted. (Cf. Simon BG: 510. Not recorded by Vicaire, Oberlé, or Bitting. Lacking from the Kilian Fritsch Collection.)

Contemporary half mottled tawny sheep with vellum-tipped corners, the spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt compartments, marbled paper sides, red edges.

An important treatise on vinification by a former wine merchant’s employee who had worked in France, England, and Holland.

The volume details the methods then used to preserve and improve wines, as well as to treat those that had spoiled. One chapter is devoted to the manner of making wines in Champagne (pp. 135–179). It is also, however, a veritable compendium of “fraudulent recipes”…

An open invitation to fraud, so much so that the censor responsible for granting approval was visibly unsettled: this dissertation "contient les formules suivant lesquelles on sophistique les vins, cependant on peut le laisser imprimer, parce qu'elle n'apprend aux frelateurs de vins que ce qu'ils savent bien faire et qu'elle fait connaître au public qui et prévenu, que les vins frelatés sont dangereux et les moyens qu'on emploie pour le tromper". [D. Denis, Histoire socio-économique de la vigne et du vin.]

First edition of this paper on cassava and the cultivation of peanuts, read before the General Assembly of the Royal Aragonese Society on 22 August 1800.

Our copy is preserved in modern plain beige wrappers, with a few insignificant spots of foxing.

From the library of the comte de Lasteyrie du Saillant, the renowned agronomist, with his red printed stamp on the title-page.

Second illustrated edition, comprising 15 engraved plates outside the text. (cf. Kayser, Bücher-Lexicon VI, 265.)

Thirteen plates have been delicately hand-coloured at the time, several set against scenic alpine backgrounds; one of the two uncoloured plates depicts traditional alpine cheesemaking tools.

The French text is printed on the verso of the German text.

Very rare suite presented with its original upper wrapper, housed in a modern black box with flat spine, red morocco title-piece, and a large matching morocco label on the upper cover; light and inconsequential surface wear to the boards.

Some text leaves are toned and trimmed short in the margins; one marginal tear to the uncoloured plate; minor foxing in places.

Despite what the title might suggest (as the author explains in his preface), the work is dedicated to Swiss cattle breeds.

A rare and strikingly complete suite.

Very rare first edition, illustrated in each volume with a copper-engraved frontispiece by Tardieu after Monnet.

Half black grained cloth bindings, smooth spines decorated with blind fillets, marbled paper boards with light rubbing, sprinkled edges, modest late 19th-century bindings.

Some foxing and a few pale waterstains at the end of the second volume.

This work is an essay whose concerns are strikingly close to our own, though expressed in a very different context.

A founder of French ecological thought, the civil engineer François-Antoine Rauch (1762–1837) demonstrated the direct relationship between deforestation and the increase in extreme weather, calling for the preservation of nature in the interest of humankind. He denounced the large-scale clearing of forests undertaken across continents and advocated the restoration and protection of woodland areas.

In the same spirit, he defended wetlands and marshes, to be made healthy without being drained. The first volume is almost entirely devoted to the dangers and imbalances caused by deforestation; the second focuses on the regeneration of rivers and streams, as well as the drainage of marshes, the whole promoting a return to the “primordial harmony.”

First edition, highly sought after in the 19th century, comprising 14 of the first 15 volumes, published between 1789 and 1792, of the first series of the celebrated French scientific periodical Annales de chimie. Volume 10 missing.

Contemporary full brown calf, spines smooth with gilt fillets, brown morocco lettering-piece and green morocco numbering-piece, blind-ruled border to covers, red speckled edges, bookplate of P. H. Chavoix to front pastedown of each volume. Volumes 1 and 11 numbered in Roman rather than Arabic numerals.

Overall, discreet restorations, corners rubbed, occasional light foxing and browning, some worming to bindings not affecting text, head and tail of headcaps worn on volumes 7, 13, 14 and 15.

The complete first series of the Annales de chimie, published between 1789 and 1815, runs to 96 volumes. From 1793 to 1797, publication was suspended following the arrest of Antoine Lavoisier, the journal's treasurer and, in Édouard Grimaux's words, its "true director." The opening run here contains nearly all the issues produced under the direction of, and with contributions from, the chemists Antoine de Lavoisier and Baron Philippe Frédéric de Dietrich. Both were condemned to the guillotine during the Reign of Terror, in 1794 and 1793 respectively.

This set is further illustrated with 12 scientific plates, including two by the engraver Sellier, as well as a map of the county of Bigorre. The majority of the articles and essays are first editions, written by distinguished French and foreign chemists and physicists who helped disseminate "The New Chemistry": (in order of appearance) Louis-Bernard Guyton de Morveau, Antoine de Lavoisier, Gaspard Monge, Claude-Louis Berthollet, Anne-François Fourcroy, Philippe-Frédéric de Dietrich, Jean Henri Hassenfratz, Pierre-Auguste Adet, Jean-Antoine Chaptal, Martin Heinrich Klaproth, Johann Georg Albrecht Höpfner, Christoph Girtanner, Johann Christian Wiegleb, Jacques-Anselme Dorthes, Johann Friedrich Westrumb, Armand Seguin, Henry Cavendish, William Austin, Martin van Marum, l'abbé René Just Haüy, Peter Jacob Hjelm, Jan Ingenhousz, Isaac Milner, Johan Gadolin, James Watt, Lorenz Florenz Friedrich von Crell, Charles Blagden, Jean Senebier, Jean d'Arcet, William Higgins, Nicolas-Louis Vauquelin, Nicolas Joseph Thiéry de Ménonville, Dom Michel Rubin de Celis, Jacques Louis Schurer, Augustin-François de Silvestre, l'abbé Claude Chappe, Antoine Augustin Parmentier, Nicolas Deyeux, Bertrand Pelletier, Charles-Augustin Coulomb, Joseph Priestley, Richard Kirwan, Jean André de Luc, Jean-François Clouet, chevalier Marsilio Landriani, Jean-Noël Hallé, François Pierre Nicolas Gillet de Laumont, Georges-Charles Bartholdi, Alexandre Brongniart, Jean-Michel Haussmann, Henri Reboul, François René Curaudau, Thomas Henry, Jean-Anthyme Margueron, Nicolas Leblanc, Johann Rudolph Deiman, Pieter Nieuwland, Pierre de Ribaucourt, Pissis fils, Jean-Baptiste Van Mons ou encore Louis François Antoine Arbogast.

In 1816, the Annales de chimie was retitled Annales de chimie et de physique. In 1913, the journal split into two separate publications, Annales de chimie and Annales de physique. The titles have undergone further changes up to the present day.

A collection of 14 volumes from the opening run of the prestigious French scientific periodical Annales de chimie, containing numerous essays and articles, most in first edition, published under the editorship of distinguished figures: Antoine de Lavoisier, Louis-Bernard Guyton de Morveau, Gaspard Monge, Claude-Louis Berthollet, Anne-François Fourcroy, Philippe-Frédéric de Dietrich, Jean Henri Hassenfratz, and Pierre-Auguste Adet.

Very rare first edition.

Our copy is offered disbound.

It was as part of his philanthropic concerns that Piarron de Chamousset (1717–1773), who in fact practised medicine without holding any formal qualification, sought to establish the first mutual-aid association, comprising a dispensary, medical staff, and premises to accommodate the sick.

This text was later reprinted in the collection Vues d'un citoyen (Paris, Lambert, 1757). By the same author, we also offer following it: "Lettre à l'auteur de la critique du Plan d'une maison d'association".

S.l.n.d. [1754], 14 pp.

Second edition, largely original, as it is considerably expanded (cf. Caillet 2273).

This edition is not cited by Quérard. Not in Blake. NUC: 3 copies.

Rare copy preserved in its original pink wrappers with printed spine label, untrimmed; covers slightly worn with a few corner losses, spine splitting at foot.

The first edition, published anonymously and without publisher’s address, appeared in 1784 [i.e. 1785].

"C'est dans cet ouvrage que le marquis de Puységur fit connaître la découverte qu'il venait de faire (mai 1784) des phénomènes qu'il désigna sous le nom de somnambulisme artificiel. Plusieurs cures importantes minutieusement observées et dûment certifiées, sont relatées dans ces Mémoires indispensables à consulter. L'arbre magnétisé qui fit tant de bruit a sa page historique. L'auteur, l'un des hommes les plus honorables et les plus bienfaisants de son temps, a sans doute émis sur certaines parties de la science en général des idées que celle-ci ne peut accepter aujourd'hui ; mais on ne peut lui refuser une connaissance réelle de ce que l'on savait alors de l'électricité, et personne n'a su mieux tirer parti des ressources offertes par le somnambulisme artificiel" [Caillet].

A good, uncut copy in its original wrappers.

First edition.

Half calf binding with small vellum corners, smooth spine decorated with gilt fillets and dentelle rolls, an old red morocco title label, marbled paper boards, sprinkled edges; a modern binding.

A few passages unfortunately underlined in red ballpoint pen on several leaves (around ten in total), a light marginal dampstain on the first two leaves, modern bookplate pasted on a pastedown.

Only edition, uncommon, of this unexpected work: the Dauphinois Claude-Pierre de Delay d'Agier (1750–1827) was above all a political figure of the Revolution and the Empire, mayor of Romans in 1789, fully committed to the new ideas. Yet he had attended in Lunéville from 1774 the course in hippiatry given by Lafosse, who became his friend and whom he greatly admired; hence this atypical publication in the author's career.

Two works bound in one volume: first edition of Principia philosophiae fol­lowed by the first Latin edition of Spec­imina philosophiae. Complete with blank leaves b4 and 2Q4.

Printer's mark representing Minerva and her owl, as well as the motto “Ne extra oleas” on the title page. Numerous in-text engrav­ings.

Bound in full calf, spine with five raised bands framed in gilt, elaborately decorat­ed in gilt, gilt arms of the Society of Writers to the Signet at center of boards framed in blind, marbled endpapers, speckled edges. Library shelfmark glued to the pastedown endpaper, additional penned shelfmarks on the pastedown, and a manuscript ex-libris of the Signet Library, “Ex Lib: | Bibl: Scribar | Sig: Reg:” on the title page. Joints, spine-ends and corners restored, more foxing on the first six leaves, on the title page of the Specimina and the last four leaves of the volume. Some spots to the boards. Unusual paper defect around the author's name on the title page of Princip­ia, present in other copies (Library of Con­gress, BnF), small wormhole to the lower margin of this same page, burrowing to p. 129 of the “Specimina”. A few faded letters on 4 lines where two pages were joined together (pages 296–297).

First Latin edition of the Discourse on the Method containing the first oc­currence of the famous “cogito ergo sum”.

First edition, illustrated with four plates, including a folding world map (cf. Sinkankas 3466; Agassiz III, 370).

Full fawn calf, spine with five slender raised bands, gilt-tooled compartments with occasionally softened floral tools, rubbed gilt headcaps, brown morocco lettering-piece, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt dentelle framing the pastedowns, gilt fillets to board edges, marbled edges, contemporary binding.

Repairs to the spine, one joint split at head and foot, browning along the board margins with surface scratches, scattered foxing, a waterstain at the head of all leaves.

A noteworthy treatise devoted to yellow amber and above all to ambergris, the fragrant substance derived from the intestinal concretions of sperm whales which, once expelled, float on the surface of the sea and yield a highly prized perfume.

The plates depict a frog and a lizard embedded in amber, a world map (Africa, Europe, Asia and part of the Southern Lands), figures collecting bird droppings, and various animals.

"This book commonly appears in bibliographies on amber when in fact it is about ambergris, but Klobius examines both substances and notes their differences on p. 26-9. One of the plates shows a frog and a lizard imbedded in amber, both of which are fakes" [Sinkankas].

On the title-page, a distinguished manuscript ex-libris in black ink

First edition of this offprint of great rarity.

Not listed in Musset-Pathay. Only two copies recorded in the Catalogue Collectif de France (Institut and Orléans).

Our copy is presented in a modern temporary wrapper made to resemble old paper.

Wine and cherry brandy, homemade kirschen-vasser, gin, juniper wine, poor man’s wine, currant wine, raisin and other dried fruit wines, etc.

First edition of the first of Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire’s essays on “Philosophie anatomique.”

Illustrated with 10 folding plates drawn by Huet and engraved by Plée père, containing 116 figures (cf. Agassiz III, p. 29, no. 51; British Museum (Natural History) II, p. 656; Engelmann I, p. 263; Quérard III, 320; DSB V, 355-358; Cahn (Th.), La vie et l’œuvre d’Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, pp. 81-112).

Bradel binding in full marbled paper boards, smooth spine with black morocco title label, modern binding signed by Thomas Boichot.

Some foxing to the plates.

Based on a meticulous examination of the various anatomical structures of the respiratory organs in vertebrate animals, the author formulates several principles concerning their organization, the most important being that of the Unity of Composition. According to this principle, all vertebrate species share the same structural elements in equal number. Despite Cuvier’s criticisms, this theory gained traction and was later refined through embryology and paleontology. The work is divided as follows: 1. On the gill cover in fish, hitherto known as the operculum […] and on the four corresponding bones of the auditory canal in air-breathing animals, called the stapes, incus, lenticular and malleus. – 2. On the bones forming the external framework employed in the mechanics of respiration, or the bones of the sternum. – 3. On the anterior bones of the chest, or the hyoid. – 4. On the inner bones of the chest […] including, in air-breathing animals, the elements of the larynx, trachea and bronchi, and in fish, those of the branchial arches, gill teeth and cartilaginous lamellae of the gills. – 5. On the bones of the shoulder, with respect to their determination and their role in the phenomena of respiration. “Geoffroy revitalized comparative anatomy in France and created scientific teratology, experimental embryology, and the concept of paleontological evolution […]. He and his friend Lamarck lived too early to be completely understood” (DSB, V, p. 358).

Two further essays were later published: “Des monstruosités humaines” (1822) and “Fragmens sur la structure et les usages des glandes mammaires des cétacés” (1834).

A precious copy printed on deluxe paper (the two other essays were issued only on regular paper). The text is identical to the octavo edition published the same year, except for the errata, which here contains 12 lines (versus 20 in the regular edition).

First edition of this important work on cryptogams, illustrated with 36 hand-coloured plates (cf. Pritzel 3345).

Contemporary half calf with vellum corners, flat spine decorated with gilt floral rolls, partly rubbed, joints worn, lower cap trimmed with a small loss, black morocco title label, blue paper-covered boards.

Endpapers soiled, a few small spots of foxing.

Justin Girod-Chantrans, writer and naturalist [Besançon, 1750–1841], was one of the founders of the Société d’Agriculture du Doubs.

He was elected a member of the legislative body in 1802 (cf. Hoefer).

First edition of the French translation, illustrated with 34 plates, including one in colour.

See Garrison & Morton, 2465 (for the original German edition).

Contemporary full marbled cream paper boards, smooth spine with some rubbing and small losses, decorative motif of three acorns stamped in the centre of the covers, modern bookplate pasted on the verso of the front board.

Some light foxing.

First French translation of Abhandlung über die Saamen- und Infusionsthierchen, und über die Erzeugung, nebst mikroskopischen Beobachtungen des Saamens der Thiere in verschiedenen Infusionen (1778).

The biologist Wilhelm Friedich von Gleichen-Russwurm (1717–1783) was the first to develop the staining of bacteria (with carmine and indigo) to facilitate their microscopic observation.

Rare first edition of the French translation, illustrated with 12 double-page plates mounted on guards. (Not in Ferguson.)

Contemporary soft pink paper boards, spine renewed, with a small stain and some paper losses to the covers.

Johann Bartholomäus Trommsdorff (1770–1837), a disciple of Buchholz, was professor of chemistry and physics at Erfurt, but is generally regarded in Germany as a pharmacist. Throughout his career, he sought to establish pharmacology on the foundations of pure chemistry. The translator, Philippe-Xavier Leschevin de Précour (1771–1814), a brilliant young chemist, died prematurely while serving as chief commissioner of powders and saltpetre in Dijon.

A pleasant and uncommon copy.

First edition illustrated with a copper-engraved plate (showing some dampstains) from the second part of this brief communication, which served as an invitation to the public meeting of the Imperial Society of Naturalists of Moscow.

According to the CCF, only the Natural History Museum holds all three parts, published respectively in 1809, 1810, and 1811.

Very rare copy preserved in its original stitched wrappers with the printed pink cover.

Covers slightly discoloured and foxed at the margins, two dampstains affecting the lower edge throughout. Manuscript notes at the head of the front wrapper identifying the author and title.

The Saxon naturalist Fischer von Waldheim (1771–1853) was, in 1805, the founder of the Imperial Society of Naturalists of Moscow, whose aim was to promote the study of natural history in Russia—a society still active today under a different name.

He worked across all fields of natural history, carrying out extensive research on the classification of invertebrates, and published Entomographia Imperii Rossici, issued between 1820 and 1851.

He also studied fossils in the region of Moscow, as well as molluscs and other marine organisms.

Copy from the library of the French naturalist André-Constant Duméril (1774–1860), with his handwritten ex-libris at the lower right corner of the front cover.

Very rare document on the so-called "Eau de Cologne," illustrated with a headpiece depicting the city of Cologne.

Written by Giovanni Antonio Farina (1718–1787), one of the heirs and successors of the inventor of the famous lotion, the Italian perfumer Giovanni Paolo Feminis (1660–1736), who had settled in Cologne.

Jean-Antoine Farina would later transmit the formula to his descendants, the last of whom, Jean-Marie Farina (1785–1864), successfully marketed the celebrated water during the first half of the 19th century.

This pamphlet details the various medicinal applications of Eau de Cologne (the names of the ailments are printed in capitals). "Il y a environ un siècle que cette Eau a été inventée et composée par le Sr. Paul Feminis, Italien, et ancien Distillateur à Cologne, et qu'elle est en grande réputation dans toute l'Europe. On ne peut donner à cette Eau tout l'éloge qu'elle mérite : ses vertus sont au dessus de tout ce qu'on peut en dire, et l'expérience constante qu'on en a par les effets surprenans que dans une infinité de Maladies elle opère continuellement, sur toutes les Personnes, de quelque sexe et âge qu'elles soient, en est une preuve si convaincante, que c'est à juste titre qu'on lui donne le nom d'admirable".

Extremely rare first edition of the French translation by Luc de la Porte (cf. Lust 24. Cordier, Sinica, 12. Palau 105509. Sabin 27780. Wagner (SW) 7bb. Leclerc (1878) 258. Streit IV, 1999. Alden European Americana 588/37 – 8 copies recorded in the U.S.A. Atkinson 339.)

Contemporary full brown calf binding, spine with five raised bands decorated with double gilt compartments, joints and spine restored, gilt fillets partly faded on the edges, red edges. 17th-century binding.

Minor stain to margin at the beginning of the volume; tear to margin p. 62.

Extremely rare first edition of the French translation of one of the finest missionary accounts of 16th-century China; it includes a significant section on the Americas, notably the recent discovery of New Mexico by Antonio d'Espejo in 1583. It was through this work that Abraham Ortelius was able to complete the American section of his atlas (Sabin 27775).

Manuscript ex-libris on the title page: Cadt. Berdeilh; autograph letter signed by Marie de Berdeilh, dated Mirepoix, January 10, on the front endpaper; and an acknowledgment of debt signed by the same, mounted to front pastedown. Ex-libris of Gaston Héliot, an antiques dealer specializing in Chinese and Japanese curiosities c. 1920–1930.

Extremely rare first edition, probably printed in Prussia, of this essay written directly in French by Baron de Bielfeld (1716–1770), inspector of Prussian universities and a friend of Frederick the Great since the time when he was still Crown Prince of Prussia.

GV 1700–1910, vol. 111, p. 374. Not in Conlon (who only cites the Amsterdam edition of the same year). No copy located in the U.S.A.

Full red morocco with gilt decoration, smooth spine elaborately tooled in the grotesque style, gilt rolls on the caps, triple gilt fillet border on the covers, gilt fillets on the edges, star-patterned gilt paper endpapers and doublures, gilt dentelle border on the inside covers, all edges gilt, contemporary binding.

Small black spots on the boards, a few insignificant scattered foxmarks.

The author clearly intended this work to flatter his sovereign by showing how the princes of the House of Brandenburg, and particularly “the monarch who now occupies the throne,” had “the glorious maxim of granting their subjects full freedom of thought and generous protection to all talents.”

A fine copy, bound in a Parisian binding from one of the capital’s finest workshops, preserved in near-perfect condition.

First edition of this important account of Buffon, providing insights into his private life, his character, and his relationships with those around him; it also contains numerous references to his scientific work (cf. Quérard I, 119: "Lyon, Grabit, 1788"; Dureau, "Notice sur Joseph Aude," p. 15).

Half vellum binding, smooth spine with a red morocco title label in vertical layout, marbled paper boards, slightly rubbed corners, sprinkled edges.

Stains in the margins of the title page and final leaf.

The memoirs proper end on page 55.

The following pages contain the poems announced in the title.

The rarity of this volume was already noted by Dureau in 1868...

Chevalier Aude (1755–1841), a prolific dramatist and former secretary to Caraccioli, had also served as Buffon’s secretary and resided, in the manner of an “Eckermann,” with the great naturalist at his estate in Montbard.

Armorial bookplate "Sapere Aude" pasted on the verso of the front board, likely belonging to a descendant of the Chevalier.

Second edition.

Full forest-green morocco binding, spine with five raised bands framed with gilt dotted lines and decorated with double gilt panels, gilt rolls at head and tail, triple gilt fillets bordering the covers, marbled paper endpapers and doublures, gilt dentelle frame on the inside covers, all edges gilt, double gilt fillets along the edges, an elegant binding signed by Krafft.

Bound following it are:

- Nicolas Papin’s “De pulvere sympathico dissertatio”, printed in Paris by Siméon Piget in 1650 (8 unnumbered leaves, the last blank, and 40 pp.).

- By the same author, “La poudre de sympathie, deffendue contre les objections de Mr. Cattier, médecin du Roy”, printed in Paris by Siméon Piget in 1651 (4 unnumbered leaves and 56 pp.).

- Isaac Cattier’s “Response à Monsieur Papin Docteur en Medecine, touchant la poudre de sympathie”, printed in Paris by Edme Martin in 1651 (87 pp.).

A fine copy, beautifully preserved in a splendid binding signed by Krafft.

First edition, illustrated with two plates, one of which in colour, comprising thirteen figures (cf. Quérard IV, 49).

Half green shagreen binding, spine with four raised bands decorated with gilt tools, light rubbing to the spine, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers, mid-19th-century binding.

Occasional foxing, three small holes to the lower right corner of the title page, manuscript ex-libris: Antoine Delarue – June 1810.

“One of the most remarkable works on natural history of this century. The author devotes an entire chapter to the history of the females; he describes their loves, the way in which new colonies are established and old ones preserved. Passing from the relations between the workers and the winged individuals to those between the workers themselves, he follows them in their migrations, their travels, their particular conduct; he observes the battles fought between ants of different species, etc.”

Rare first edition (cf. Carrère 667).

Modern binding in half mottled calf with small sand-colored corners, spine with four raised bands decorated with double gilt fillets, brown morocco title label, marbled paper boards, yellow endpapers and pastedowns, red edges.

One of the earliest impressions from Remiremont; cited by Deschamps, col. 1102.

Rare first edition illustrated with one table and two plates showing cranial shapes and portraits of the insane.

See Garrison Morton, 4922. En français dans le texte, 203. Kelly, p. 326. Foucault, Histoire de la folie, 523. Jan Goldstein, Console and classify, 65. Bariéty & Coury, 882.

Half calf binding with corners, smooth spine decorated with gilt floral and ornamental motifs, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, sprinkled edges; modern pastiche binding.

Some foxing mainly affecting the second volume.

Bound at the end of the volume is Jean-Etienne Esquirol’s "Des Établissemens consacrés aux aliénés en France, et des moyens de les améliorer. Mémoire présenté au ministre de l'Intérieur, en septembre 1818", published in Paris, undated, by Renouard, 35 pp.

On the verso of the title page: "Cet opuscule est extrait de l'ouvrage que l'auteur publiera à la fin de janvier 1838, sous le titre: Des maladies considérées sous les rapports médical, hygiénique, statistique et médico-légal." A rare offprint of the text that led to the adoption of the law of 30 June 1838, which established the creation of one psychiatric institution per department and made confinement subject to medical advice. "This Mémoire to the Minister of the Interior on conditions in Hospitals and Prisons is one of the ablest and most influential documents in the history of administrative psychiatry" (Zilboorg & Henry p. 391, cited in Haskell F. Norman Library, III, 1062). A judicious pairing of two fundamental texts.

First edition of this first part illustrated with three copperplate engravings.

Contemporary flexible boards covered with marbled paper, smooth brown percaline spine with a small snag at foot, red morocco title label on the front cover, rubbed corners.

Rare.

Third edition, the second issued under this title, partly original as it includes several new memoirs and the general tariff of Holland.

See Sabin 47557. Cioranescu 35613. Kress 3019. Not in Goldsmiths or Einaudi. See INED 2306 for the "Grand trésor historique et politique du florissant commerce des Hollandois" (1712).

Amsterdam, Du Villard, Changuion, 1718, 8vo,

Full mottled tan calf, spine with raised bands decorated with gilt fillets, garlands and floral tools (partly faded), red morocco title label, gilt rolls at the head and tail, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt fillet on board edges, red edges, one lower corner bumped, others slightly rubbed, contemporary binding.

First edition illustrated with 11 plates, 10 of which are folding.

Bradel binding in full marbled paper boards, smooth spine, vertical paper title label.

"Ce sont les tables des hauteurs du soleil à toutes les heures" [Lalande]. A rare and appealing copy.

Very rare first edition, with only one copy listed in WorldCat.

Contemporary half vellum binding with small corners, smooth spine, brown morocco title label with losses, marbled paper boards.

Some foxing and light staining to the title page.

The work lists and quantifies commercial exchanges with various regions of Italy, as well as with France, Spain, America, Russia, the Levant, and others.

First edition. Quérard I, 271 lists only one edition: "Paris, Née de La Rochelle, 1789." Kress B.1163; Goldsmiths 13858. Not in Einaudi."

With loose printed title pages for each volume, dated 1789.

The first volume, with an engraved pictorial title after Meunier, contains 52 double-page or folding plates inserted into the pagination, without following its numbering logic.

The second volume has an engraved pictorial title by Zaveris after Meunier and includes 154 etched plates of coins.

Full mottled calf, spines with six raised bands, gilt fillets and double gilt panels, red morocco lettering-pieces, green morocco numbering-pieces, gilt rolls on the headcaps, double blind-ruled borders on covers, marbled endpapers, gilt fillets on edges, marbled edges, contemporary bindings.

Some restorations to the bindings.

Unique edition, very rare (the 1789 printing to which our two additional title leaves would correspond does not seem to be attested despite Quérard’s mention).

An excellent copy on strong vellum paper, large-margined, with the spines elegantly decorated with special gilt tools.

New edition with hitherto unpublished material, printed three years after the first edition.
Contemporary full brown sheepskin binding, smooth spine with 7 gilt compartments decorated with friezes and classical vases, leather lettering piece, inscription "Lycée impérial de Marseille, prix de l'an XIII (1805)" gilt-stamped on upper cover, gilt rolls on board edges, tooled spine-ends, white pastedowns and endpapers, price label with the "Lycée's" header affixed to front pastedown. Usual wear to joints with a small hole, lower spine-end missing and leather loss at foot of spine, wormhole affecting several letters of the word "Marseille" on front cover, corners bumped, gilt tooling on board edges and spine-ends slightly faded, hole to half-title leaf not affecting text, and leaves throughout cockled.
Ink annotation on title page: "1ère Edition 1796".

Four further editions will follow the first two: 1808, 1813, 1824, and 1835 (the latter published posthumously).

First edition of this important work, cf. Krivatsy 588. Garrison-Morton 1673, 5047 and 5085.

Full stiff ivory vellum, spine with four raised bands, the author’s name handwritten in black ink, one defect on the fourth band, blind-tooled rolls on the headcaps, gilt fillets highlighting the raised bands and framing the covers, small vellum losses on the covers, losses at the corners of the first and last endpaper, edges sprinkled red, contemporary binding.

Bound with this work are three further treatises by Guillaume de Baillou, all printed by Quesnel in 1640. Krivatsy, describing a volume made up in the same manner as ours, suggests that this collection may have been issued as such.

The additional works are described below:

   -   Definitiorum medicarum liber. (Title in red and black, 9 unnumbered ff., 108 pp. and 4 unnumbered ff. The title and preliminary leaves have been bound by mistake after the preliminaries of the first work).

Cf. Krivatsy 587. Garrison-Morton 6796.

First edition published in 1639, with cancel title dated 1640. "A glossary of Hippocratic terms" [Garrison-Morton].

 -    Commentarius in libellum Theophrasti De vertigine. (Title, 1 unnumbered dedication leaf, 41 pp., 1 unnumbered f.)

Cf. Krivatsy 582. First edition. "Includes Greek and Latin text of Theophrastus's De vertigine" [Krivatsy]

  -   De convulsionibus libellus. (Title, 7 unnumbered ff., 51 pp., 2 unnumbered ff.) Cf. Krivatsy 585.

First edition of this treatise on convulsions.

A very rare collection preserved in contemporary vellum.

The ‘Kehl edition’, the most renowned edition of Voltaire's works, illustrated and published on deluxe paper. It was printed on five different types of paper, and only the deluxe editions, such as ours on laid paper, feature engravings. These are naturally the most sought-after and rarest copies.

Binding in full painted sheep decorated with a “honeycomb” motif, smooth spine tooled with gilt fleurons, fillets and compartments, light beige calf lettering and volume pieces, gilt chain-roll border on covers, marbled endpapers, gilt roll on edges, all edges marbled, contemporary binding. Two volumes (nos. 50 and 70) with slight variations in gilt tools on the spines and with orange morocco lettering pieces, edges and covers treated somewhat differently. General condition of the 70 volumes: bindings with light rubbing to corners, gilt a little dulled, occasional foxing, a few wormholes and old restorations, not affecting the text. 28 volumes (vols. 4, 5, 8, 10, 11, 13, 16, 17, 19, 20, 24, 27, 28, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 43, 48, 61, 62, 63, 65, 66, 67, 68, 70) with cracked joints at the ends, and 20 volumes (vols. 8, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 33, 34, 37, 42, 46, 49, 53, 56, 57, 60, 65, 66, 68, 70) with damaged caps.

Two editions were published at the same time. Our copy belongs to the prestigious in-8 edition on large paper published in 70 volumes (the other edition being in-12 format in 92 volumes). It is richly illustrated with 125 etched plates:

- There are 17 portraits, including 3 of Voltaire: a frontispiece portrait by N. de Largillière engraved by P. Alex. Tardieu; one drawn from Houdon's bust by Moreau le Jeune and engraved by P. Alex. Tardieu; and one allegorical portrait by Louis Croutelle after Moreau le Jeune, belonging to the second series of illustrations of Voltaire's works executed by Moreau for the publisher Renouard. The 14 other portraits include an allegorical frontispiece of Frédéric-Guillaume, Prince of Prussia, depicted in profile in a medallion by Dambrun after Moreau le Jeune; a portrait of Henry IV by Pourbus engraved by Tardieu; one of Charles VII engraved after the original in the King's Cabinet by Mavieri; another of Agnès Sorel drawn by Moreau the Younger after the original in the King's Cabinet and engraved by Mavieri; one of Joan of Arc engraved by Beisson; followed by the Count of Dunois engraved after the original in the King's Cabinet by J. B. Fosseyeux; one of Louis XIV drawn by Moreau Le Jeune after C. Le Brun engraved by J. B. Fosseyeux; one of Charles XII engraved by P. Alex. Tardieu after the original in the King's Cabinet; one of Pierre I engraved by P. G. Langlois after a painting by L. Caravaque; one of Madame du Châtelet after Marie Anne Loir and engraved by P. G. Langlois; one of the Count of Argental after J. Defraine and engraved by J. B. Fosseyeux; one of Frédéric II of Prussia painted from life by Van Loo and engraved by P. G. Langlois; one of Catherine II of Russia engraved by J. B. Fosseyeux; and one of d'Alembert after De La Tour engraved by N. F. Maviez.

- 93 engravings by Moreau le Jeune, including 44 figures for le Théâtre (engraved by Lingée, Simonet, de Launay, Trière, Halbou, Duclos, Romanet, Dambrun, de Longueil, Delignon, Le Mire, Le Veau), 10 for la Henriade (engraved by Masquelier, Delignon, Dambrun, Patas, Gutemberg, Helman, Simonet, Duclos, Romanet), 21 for la Pucelle (engraved by Simonet, Dambrun, Halbou, Baquoy, Trière, Delignon, de Longueil, Croutelle and Duclos), 4 for the Contes (in verse, engraved by Langlois, Duclos, Delignon and Le Veau) and 14 for the Romans (engraved by Trière, Duclos, de Longueil, Dambrun, Baquoy, Delignon, Simonet, Langlois and Halbou). 

- 14 scientific plates in volume 31, illustrating the experiments of Newton, Descartes and Leibniz.

- 1 battle plan in volume 24 about the Histoire de l'Empire de Russie sous Pierre le Grand.

According to Bengesco (IV, no. 2142), our copy is missing a portrait of Louis XV in volume 22, as well as a portrait of Voltaire by De La Tour (replaced here in the last volume by an allegorical portrait by Louis Croutelle after Moreau le Jeune). This copy includes all the additional portraits, with the exception of two illustrations that are almost always missing: a portrait of Vertot and an engraving of the Œuvres.

Illustrated edition with 2 folding maps and 10 engraved plates outside the text (see Garrison & Morton 71; DSB 613-614).

Contemporary full marbled calf binding, spine with six raised bands decorated with double black panels stamped with blind typographic motifs, burgundy shagreen title label, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, red edges.

Some restoration to the binding, spine rebacked; evidence of waterstaining to the upper margins of the leaves in the second volume.

Giovanni Maria Lancisi (1654–1720), an Italian physician trained at the University of Rome, produced significant work on mosquitoes and malaria (he introduced the term), as well as on cardiovascular diseases and aneurysms. These contributions are gathered in the present work, illustrated with ten anatomical plates of the heart. "Lancisi, great Italian clinician, was the first to describe cardiac syphilis; he was also notable as an epidemiologist, with a clear insight into the theory of contagion. He was physician to Pope Clement XI, who turned over to him the forgotten copper plates executed by Eustachius in 1552. Lancisi published these with his own notes in 1714. [...] Lancisi's posthumous De aneurysmatibus published in 1728 appears only in later collected editions" (Garrison & Morton).

Second editions, partially original, of the French and Dutch translations; the text is bilingual (Dutch and French), and includes numerous passages printed in Malay (cf. Cordier, "Indosinica", 1385. Not mentioned by Quérard).

Bound in chocolate-brown half shagreen, spine with four small raised bands decorated with gilt fillets and dots, joints split then restored, marbled paper boards showing some scratches, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, small tears to edges; 19th-century binding.

Waterstains affecting the first and last few leaves of the volume.

The translator’s lengthy preface (47 pp.) appears here for the first time. Pages 235 to 344 contain exercises (original texts and their translations). "The first proof sheet of my Dictionary of the Malayan language was received from the printer on the 21st March, and the last on 11th October 1811. On the 24th of that month I corrected the first sheet of the Grammar, and both works were published in the early part of the following year. The impression was large, and, unfortunately for my labours, the extensive possessions conquered from the Dutch, where the Malayan is spoken, were gratuitously restored to them, and my sale contracted. Within these few years the Government of the Netherlands has done me the honour of causing translations of my Grammar and Dictionary, which has been hably executed by M. Elout fils, and to the politeness of M. Elout, minister for the colonies, I am indebted for copies of them." Cf. Marsden, Memoirs, pp. 143–144, cited by Cordier. The English orientalist William Marsden (Dublin, 1754–1836) was also director of the East India Company and secretary to the Admiralty. He had travelled to Sumatra in 1771 following his brother, an agent of the Company, and devoted his time there to learning the local language. "After spending eight well-used years in Sumatra, he returned to England in 1779 in hopes of securing a more lucrative position. Initially unsuccessful, he dedicated his retirement to a geographical and historical study of the island. Around this time, he became acquainted with Sir Joseph Banks, who introduced him to several eminent figures such as Dalrymple, Rennell, Maskelyne, Solander, and Herschel. He was soon elected a member of the Royal Society. His History of Sumatra, published in 1782, earned him that distinction (...) The principal fruits of his studious retirement were a Grammar and a Dictionary of the Malay language, an excellent translation of the Travels of Marco Polo (1817), with a highly valuable commentary, a catalogue of his rich collection of Oriental coins, and three Essays, the most important of which concerns the languages of Polynesia" [Hoefer].

First and only Castilian edition of these navigation tables, which were nonetheless translated into English as early as 1801.

No copy recorded in the CCF.

Contemporary half vellum with corners, smooth spine tooled in blind with Greek key rolls, rubbed cherry shagreen label with losses, marbled paper boards with scratches and losses, sprinkled edges, period binding.

José de Mendoza y Ríos (1761-1816) was a mathematician and astronomer; he specialised in the field of nautical astronomy.

New edition after the 1562 original. Rare. Brunet II, 789. Italic typeface edition illustrated with about twenty curious figures in and outside the text, notably associating objects with letters. One copy at Manchester library, we found nothing in France and Germany.

Contemporary full vellum binding, smooth spine with handwritten title lengthwise in pen. One tear on the spine (1 cm). Endpapers restored, the title page has been reinforced with two small pieces of paper on the verso.

Lodovico Dolce (1508-1568), Venetian man of letters and humanist, worked on editions of Italian classical texts (Dante, Petrarch...) in collaboration with the publisher Ferrari and renewed the genre which bears his mark. He translated the Metamorphoses into Italian and wrote several dialogues including one on painting featuring Vasari and Aretino, and another on the properties of colors. He wrote notably theatrical pieces. The general theme of the present dialogue is occultism, astrology.

Very rare first edition illustrated at the end with 4 folding plates (cf Quérard VII, 190).

Modern binding in half mottled sheep with small vellum corners, smooth spine decorated with double gilt fillets, red morocco title-piece, marbled paper boards.

The author was a lawyer and architect in Lunéville.

Chapters on fire, the causes of fires, stoves and chimneys, floors, partitions, staircases, roofing, etc.

Pleasant copy.

New edition illustrated with 79 woodcuts in the text (cf. Bibliographie der Spielbücher).

Contemporary limp vellum, plain spine rubbed and soiled, covers stained.

Light dampstaining at the head of the opening leaves, at the foot of the first part, and affecting other leaves.

The work is generally attributed to Father Leurechon (1591-1670), a Jesuit from Lorraine, professor of mathematics, philosophy and theology at the University of Pont-à-Mousson (Dictionary of Scientific Biography VIII 271), though its authorship remains disputed (cf. David Singmaster, Bibliography of Some Recreational Mathematics Books, 2004, who attributes it to Hendrik van Etten).

Rare first edition illustrated, at the end of the volume, with 2 folding plates.

Unique edition, of the utmost rarity, rendered all the more so by the second dedication to Berthier, unrecorded elsewhere and evidently added later.

It is known that the young Bonaparte, assigned to the artillery regiment of La Fère, had passionately learned his military trade at the Royal School of Artillery in Auxonne.

It is also known that he had studied in depth the Nouveaux principes d'artillerie by Benjamin Robins, on which he left notes.

This work must therefore have drawn his particular attention. The author long taught artillery in military schools, yet little is known about him. "Napoléon n'oublia jamais sa formation d'artilleur..."

"Il fit jouer à cette arme un rôle de plus en plus marqué," confirms Jean Tulard.

A rare and appealing copy preserved in its original temporary blue wrappers, with the title inscribed in manuscript at the head of the spine.

Rare bilingual edition, in Italian with the Croatian text facing, of this study on the woods of Istria, with at the end of the volume a folding engraved plate on the timbers intended for naval construction "de sorte que les navires dureraient plus longtemps".

Disbound copy, the plate detached.

From the Bibliothèque économique Lasteyrie, with its stamp on the title page.

Rare first edition of the French translation prepared by Thomas-François Dalibard at the request of the Comte de Buffon (cf Wheeler Gift 367d. Waller 11339. DSB V, pp. 129-139).

Full mottled calf, spine with five raised bands ruled in gilt and decorated with double gilt compartments with floral tools, red morocco lettering-piece, gilt rolls on the caps (partly rubbed), restorations to head and tail of spine as well as to the corners of the boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt fillets on the edges, marbled edges, contemporary binding.

Some foxing, a dampstain to the upper right corner of the first endpaper.

The English first edition was published in London in 1751 under the title "Experiments and observations on electricity made at Philadelphia in America" (cf. Norman 830 for that edition).

Rare first edition of Euler's first work devoted to astronomy (cf. Houzeau and Lancaster I, 11948. Poggendorff I, 689. La Lande 422. DSB IV, 467-484.)

Illustrated with a frontispiece (printed on f. A4) and 4 engraved plates at the end of the volume.

Some minor foxing, mostly towards the end of the volume.

Modern half vellum binding, smooth unlettered spine, comb-marbled paper boards, red edges.

This work dates from the very beginning of Euler's stay in Berlin (where he had been invited by Frederick II of Prussia), a period of intense activity across several fields of science.

The work is described as a "fundamental work on calculation of orbits" in the Dictionary of Scientific Biography.

Jérôme De La Lande already noted in his Bibliographie astronomique (Paris, 1803): «Ce livre est le premier où l'on ait traité analytiquement les orbites des planètes et des comètes».

One of the principal works of dynamical astronomy, Euler’s equations being of capital importance.

Rare first edition of the French translation established by P.-F. Henry. (Gay 2683.)

Some occasional light foxing.

The work also includes an oblong quarto atlas, in which map no. 6 has been bound upside down, containing 33 engraved plates and maps (1 to 32 plus 1bis) based on the author's original drawings.

The illustrations comprise 8 maps or plans and 25 plates depicting a variety of subjects: views, portraits, inscriptions, buildings, hunting scenes, animals, etc.

As is frequently the case, our copy lacks the out-of-text plate in volume 2 showing ancient inscriptions.

In 1809, Henry Salt was sent on a diplomatic mission to Abyssinia to establish trade relations with England. During this, his second journey to the region, he traveled along the eastern coast of Africa, visited Portuguese colonies, and collected extensive data on the hydrography of the coastal areas. In addition to the travel narrative, the work includes several vocabularies of African tribes ranging from Mozambique to Egypt: Makua, Monjour, Somali, Hurrur, Galla, Darfur, Amharic, Tigrinya, etc.; it also contains notes on Abyssinian birdlife and rare plants.

A handsome copy preserved in its original publisher’s wrappers, with plain covers and title labels pasted at the heads of the spines (minor marginal flaws to the plain covers, without significance).

First edition of this highly important work, presenting the full text of all decrees and ordinances relating to trade with the Americas, primarily the West Indies (cf. Sabin 11812. Leclerc 113. Barbier I, 649 c. Ined 1038, 1783 edition).

Illustrated with two engraved frontispiece titles and ten maps (nine folding), depicting South America, North America (repeated in vol. 2), Martinique, Guadeloupe, Saint-Domingue (2), Cayenne and its surroundings, Louisiana, the Guinea coast, as well as twelve engraved plates showing botanical specimens (sugarcane, cotton, tobacco, cocoa), genre scenes (a Black king dispensing justice, a slave market, turtle fishing), various tools and objects (ventilator, suction pump), industrial activities (plantation layout, sugar mill, indigo workshop), etc.

Bound in modern pastiche bindings: half mottled tan sheep over marbled boards, spine with five raised bands adorned with gilt garlands, double gilt panels, red edges.

Minor black ink stains to the edges of volume one, a pleasant copy overall.

First edition of the first of six publications addressing the state of the Corps of Bridges and Roads, presented to the National Constituent Assembly by Chaumont de La Millière (1746–1803), who served as director of the School from 1781 to 1792.

Contemporary half vellum binding with corners, flat spine with red morocco label, soft marbled paper boards showing some wear and losses from rubbing, yellow edges.

Two additional related publications have been bound at the end:

I. Supplément au Mémoire de M. de La Millière, sur le département des Ponts & Chaussées; ou Réponses à deux écrits relatifs à ce Mémoire, qui ont paru depuis sa publication. Paris, Imprimerie royale, 1790, title, 67 pp. (tear to the final leaf).

II. Observations de M. de La Millière, sur un écrit de M. Biauzat, député à l'Assemblée nationale, relatif à l'organisation des Ponts et Chaussées. [Paris], Imprimerie de Laurens aîné, n.d. [1791], 11 pp. Bound with: [LAPORTE (Hippolyte de):] Notice historique sur la vie de La Millière. Extracted from the Biographie universelle, vol. XXIX. [Paris], Imprimerie d'Éverat, n.d., 4 pp., text printed in two columns.

A clean cut to the final page of the second volume, minor and insignificant spotting to some leaves.

Rare first edition of one of the many promotional pamphlets extolling the virtues of the celebrated Aqua mirabilis, or "eau admirable", invented by Giovanni Paolo Feminis and produced through the distillation of grape spirits with neroli oil, bergamot, lavender, and rosemary.

Unless, of course, it is one of its many imitations.

Very rare first edition of the author's very first work, in which he clearly sought to draw attention during this period of revival of the national stud farms, abolished during the Revolution and officially reinstated in 1806 (see Mennessier de La Lance II, 138).

Contemporary full marbled fawn calf, flat spine richly gilt with garlands, Greek keys, floral tools and geometric motifs, green morocco title labels, gilt rolls on the almost faded caps, gilt ornamental borders on covers, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt fillet on edges, worn corners, sprinkled edges.

Facing the title page, signed autograph inscription by Louis de Maleden to "Messieurs Talendier et Laforest," in which he mentions the publication of his Plan organique, which appeared in 1805 followed this first work.

Ex-libris label of Waldemar Schwalbe, dated 1937, pasted on the front pastedown.

First edition, illustrated with 27 engraved plates (13 in the first volume and 14 in the second – plates 1–7 mistakenly bound after plates 8–14), cf. Ryckebusch 4989. Toussaint et Adolphe D 903. Gay 3239. Robertson 129.

Full mottled fawn calf bindings, flat spines gilt with triple fillets and floral tools (gilding partly faded), gilt roll tooling to headcaps, cherry morocco title and volume labels, plain endpapers with some usual marginal soiling, marbled edges. 19th-century bindings presented in two modern custom slipcases.

Joints restored, internally clean and well-preserved.

The astronomer Guillaume Joseph Hyacinthe Jean-Baptiste Le Gentil de La Galaisière (1725–1792), a student of Jean-Dominique Cassini, spent nearly ten years in India and travelling through the Indian Ocean region.

"His work contains valuable information on currents, tides, monsoons, etc. He introduced knowledge of the Hindu zodiac and Brahmanic astronomy, and noted its concordance with Chaldean science" (Hoefer).

The second volume is entirely devoted to the Philippines (pp. 1–366, plates 1–5), Madagascar (pp. 367–628, plates 6–10), and the islands of France and Bourbon (pp. 629–844, plates 11–14).

First edition of the French translation by Father F. Le Comte (cf. Cordier, Bibl. Indosinica, 1046. Streit BM, V 1719. Sommervogel V, 583).

Contemporary full mottled brown calf, spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt garlands and double gilt panels adorned with gilt floral tools, speckled edges.

Spine expertly restored; pages 181–184 repeated; pagination jumps from 284 to 289 without loss.

The first part (pp. 1–327) contains the “Relation du Royaume de Tunquin,” and the second, the “Relation du Royaume de Lao” (pp. 329–436). The Italian Jesuit G. F. de'Marini (born in Taggia [Genoa] in 1608 – died in Macao in 1682) set sail for the Indies in 1638, preached the Gospel in Tonkin for fourteen years, and later served as rector of the college in Macao.

From 1674 onwards, he governed the Japanese mission as Provincial. His account offers a wealth of fascinating and detailed information about Tonkin and Laos in the first half of the 17th century.

Contemporary manuscript ex-libris of the Jesuit Professed House in Paris on the title page.

Very rare.

First edition, illustrated with three wood-engraved astronomical diagrams in the text (cf. Houzeau & Lancaster 10737; Lalande, Biblio. astronomique, 419-420; Polak 6542 for the second edition).

Full marbled blond calf binding, smooth spine gilt-tooled with floral motifs (some faded), gilt title in long, some rubbing to spine and boards, triple gilt fillet framing the covers, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt roll border on pastedowns, gilt fillet on board edges, bumped corners, all edges gilt, contemporary binding.

"This work contains analytical formulas for determining latitude, declination, the time of day, sunrise and sunset, the equation of altitudes, refractions... etc." (cf. Lalande).

Some light foxing, collector’s inkstamp on a blank endleaf, and a full page of pencil annotations facing the title page.

First and only edition of this technical pamphlet, detailing numerous experiments conducted on ships using "spalme," a mixture of pitch and cement (in Le Havre, Honfleur, Nantes, etc.), with sworn statements from ship captains and references to merchants (in Le Havre and Rouen) supplying the miraculous coating—giving the work the appearance of a promotional brochure. The term "spalme" gave rise to the verb "espalmer" (from the Italian "spalmare"): to clean a ship’s hull and coat it with tallow using the palm (Latin "palma") of the hand.

A fleur-de-lis vignette bearing the word "spalme" as a tailpiece. Polak 6262.

Some minor foxing to the title page.

Rare copy preserved in its original state, unbound and without temporary wrappers.

First edition of the French translation, illustrated with a folding copper-engraved frontispiece by Bénard: "Mort du Capitaine Cook à Owhy-hée, Fevrier 1779," and a folding map titled "Carte montrant la route suivie par M. Cook… dans son troisième et dernier Voyage."

See O'Reilly and Reitman, 419. See also Hill, p. 253, for the first English edition. Forbes, Hawaiian National Biography, 45.

Contemporary binding in half marbled calf with vellum-tipped corners, spine decorated with gilt floral compartments, red morocco title label, marbled paper boards, red edges.

Restored loss to the title page. The half-title is lacking in our copy; the boards are modern.

"An apocryphal account of the third voyage, published surreptitiously more than two years before the official edition. Hocken […] attributed it to Ledyard, who also wrote a narrative of the expedition. But F. W. Howay […] demonstrated that the true author was John Rickman, lieutenant aboard the Discovery. Includes some unpublished details and episodes." Cf. O'Reilly (no. 415). "All the journals kept on board were claimed by the Admiralty, thus the author remained strictly anonymous. The text, especially as regards details of Cook’s death, differs considerably from other accounts." Cf. Hill.

This work also contains one of the earliest high-quality accounts of the Hawaiian Islands: see Forbes, p. 23.

Rare first edition illustrated with a folding plate (cf. Polak 666).

Disbound copy.

One of the practical applications to navigation of Daniel Bernoulli’s (1700–1782) research on motion.

First edition of one of the final treatises by the eminent Sardinian jurist Domenico Alberto Azuni (1749–1827), one of the foremost maritime law experts of his time and a judge at the Commercial and Maritime Court of Nice (cf. Mc Culloch 126, Quérard I 144, not in Polak).

Contemporary full tree calf binding, smooth spine gilt with decorative rolls and typographic tools, gilt head- and tailbands, gilt tooling at the caps, gilt-tooled border on the covers framed with a dentelle fillet, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt fillets on board edges, yellow edges.

Minor defects to foot of upper cover, some soiling to the endpapers, otherwise a clean and appealing copy internally.

In the final years of his life, Domenico Alberto Azuni addressed the question of piracy at a time when Barbary corsairs still roamed the Mediterranean.

In this work, he advocates for a legal framework to regulate privateering, in order to secure free navigation for neutral ships during wartime and avoid hindering commercial activity.

Second edition illustrated with two folding plates (cf. Polak 1048).

The first edition was published in 1729.

A hydrographer and mathematician, son of Jean Bouguer, Pierre Bouguer (1698–1758) would later gain recognition for his work on light and geodesy.

Disbound copy.

Highly interesting collection attributed either to the geographer Georges-Louis Le Rouge (according to Polak), or to the civil engineer La Serre (based on a manuscript version held at the Municipal Library of Le Havre).

Contemporary half Havana calf binding, smooth spine richly decorated with five gilt fillets and blind-stamped naval anchors, some minor restorations to joints, small green vellum corners, marbled paper boards, endpapers and pastedowns marbled à la cuve. Binding dating from the mid-19th century.

The work comprises 35 engraved plates depicting the plans of 42 ports.

From north to south, and west to east: 1. Antwerp. – 2. Flushing. – 3. Ostend. – 4. Dunkirk. – 5. Gravelines. – 6. Calais. – 7. Boulogne. – 8. Dieppe. – 9. Valléry-en-Caux and Fécamp. – 10. Le Havre. – 11. Le Tréport and Honfleur. – 12. Rouen. – 13. Caen. – 14. Cherbourg. – 15. Granville. – 16. Port-Malo and Saint-Servan. – 17. Brest. – 18. Lorient. – 19. Port-Louis. – 20. Nantes. – 21. Les Sables-d'Olonne. – 22. Saint-Martin-de-Ré. – 23. La Rochelle. – 24. Rochefort. – 25. Concarneau, Mont-Saint-Michel and Oléron. – 26. Bordeaux. – 27. Bayonne. – 28. Saint-Jean-de-Luz. – 29. Port-Vendres and Collioure. – 30. Cette [Sète]. – 31. Marseille. – 32. Villefranche and La Ciotat. – 33. Toulon. – 34. Antibes and Saint-Tropez. – 35. Gibraltar.

Some minor and insignificant foxing.

First edition, illustrated with a frontispiece engraved by De Launay after Marillier (cf. Conlon, 83:1107; Quérard, III, 174; Barbier, I, 276; Brunet, 5636. Not listed by Thiébaud).

Contemporary full speckled calf, smooth spine gilt in compartments with decorative tooling, green morocco title label, gilt rolls on the caps, gilt fillets along the edges, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, joints lightly restored, some repairs to the spine, yellow edges.

Joints tender, endpapers slightly soiled at the margins, a few spots to the edges, handwritten ownership note on the half-title.

The author, a traveller and naturalist born in Montargis in 1734 and who died near Château-Thierry in 1802, set sail for the East Indies around 1753.

From Smyrna, he travelled overland to Aleppo and reached Baghdad after a series of tumultuous adventures. From there, he descended the Tigris and the Shatt al-Arab, sailed across the Persian Gulf, and reached the eastern coast of India. "Cet ouvrage fut publié à la sollicitude de Buffon. L’auteur y traite de particularités inconnues jusque alors ; il nomme et décrit les animaux dont les divers peuples orientaux font leur nourriture. Il donne de curieux renseignements sur les crocodiles, les caméléons, les serpents, les sauterelles, etc. ; il raconte les nombreuses manières de chasser les animaux féroces ; explique les causes de la vénération des Indous pour certaines bêtes, etc." Cf. Hoefer.

Foucher d’Obsonville also authored a Supplément au voyage de Sonnerat (1785), a Lettre (...) sur la guerre des Turcs (1788), and a translation of a work from the Vedic corpus (1788).

First edition, illustrated with a frontispiece by Ozanne depicting the frigate *L’Aurore*, engraved by Haussard, four plates of instruments, and one folding map at the end of the volume (cf. Polak 2098).

Contemporary-style binding in bronze half calf, flat spine decorated with double gilt fillets, bronze morocco title label with some rubbing, marbled paper boards, modern binding.

In 1767, Coutanvaux was commissioned by the Académie des Sciences to undertake a voyage to the North to test various marine timekeeping systems.

Some light foxing, not affecting the text.

First and unique edition of this work, illustrated with 9 plates engraved by Benard after drawings by Penevert (cf Polak 8371).

Binding in half mottled tawny basane with vellum corners, smooth spine decorated with gilt friezes, black basane title piece partially torn, some rubbing and small holes on the spine, marbled paper boards with small paper losses, contemporary binding.

Some restorations on the spine, corners rubbed.

This work is one of the volumes of the *Description des Arts et Métiers* published at the initiative of the Académie des Sciences.

Author of numerous works on navigation and ships, Romme was a professor of mathematics at the School of Marine Guards of Rochefort. He developed a new method for measuring longitudes at sea, which earned him election as a corresponding member of the Académie des Sciences in 1775.

The plates depict ships with their rigging, as well as various types of sails with the pieces that allow them to be maneuvered: ropes, pulleys, shrouds, etc.

The text is accompanied by numerous tables detailing the technical characteristics of the sails and ends with an explanation of the nautical terms used in this work.

Pleasant interior condition.

Second edition, illustrated with two large folding maps mounted on tabs (cf. Polak 1755).

Bradel binding in full marbled pink paper-covered boards, spine sunned with losses. Title and shelving labels affixed at head and foot of spine. Some scratches and paper losses to the boards, minor abrasions and small chips to the edges. Contemporary binding.

In addition to his significant maritime and political activity since the Seven Years’ War, Charles-Pierre Claret de Fleurieu (1738–1810) was the inventor of the first marine chronometer.

Printed stamp of the Imprimerie de la République at the foot of the title page.

First edition of this excellent maritime dictionary, later reprinted in 1780, 1797, and 1799.

The work is complete in all its parts and includes 31 engraved plates by Le Gouaz after the author's drawings.

Contemporary full mottled calf binding, spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt compartments and floral tools, red morocco title label, headcap worn down, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, red edges, upper corners worn.

Small loss to the upper left corner of the front free endpaper, tears to the left margin of the title page, occasional foxing, otherwise a pleasant copy internally.

Born in Lyon on 5 November 1743, Daniel Lescallier entered naval service in December 1765 as a writer in charge of accounting at Môle-Saint-Nicolas in Saint-Domingue.

Appointed student-commissary in February 1767, then assistant commissary of ports and arsenals in February 1770, he sailed in 1773 aboard the ship *Le Languedoc*, before being sent by ministerial order to England, Russia, and Sweden. His travel account was published in 1775. Made commissary of ports and arsenals in January 1777, he was appointed in January 1780 as colonial commissary in Grenada, recently seized by d’Estaing, then in May 1782 as commissary in Demerara (British Guiana), recently occupied by Kersaint’s division. Appointed chief commissary in Cayenne in May 1785 and first councillor to the colony’s Superior Council, he endeavoured to rouse the colony from its lethargy before returning to France in July 1788. In 1789–1790, Lescallier travelled again to England and the Netherlands to study shipbuilding techniques. In August 1790, he became assistant to the Navy Committee of the National Assembly and, in February 1792, civil commissary in the Indian Ocean colonies. Captured by the English on 22 August 1793 after the capitulation of Pondicherry, he did not return to France until 1797. Head of the Colonial Bureau at the Ministry of the Navy from August 1797, he was appointed ordonnateur at Corfu but was unable to reach his post. Named colonial prefect of Guadeloupe in July 1801, he returned to France via the United States in April 1804. He was appointed maritime prefect of Genoa in February 1806 and of Le Havre from May 1808 to August 1810. In October 1810, he was made consul general to the United States, but was captured by the English en route. He escaped, returned to France at the end of 1815, left the service, and died in Paris on 14 May 1822.

First edition of the bilingual Greek-Latin text of Iamblichus' Life of Pythagoras by Ludolf Küster from the manuscript held at the Laurentian Library. The facing Latin translation is the work of Frédéric Ulrich Obrecht and Konrad Rittershausen. Bound at the end is Porphyry’s Life of Pythagoras.

Illustrated with a large frontispiece portrait of Pythagoras, based on a coin from the collection of Fulvio Orsini.

Contemporary Dutch gilt-panelled vellum boards, spine with 5 raised bands and gilt ornaments with the arms of the city of Amsterdam, large gilt arms of the city of Amsterdam on each board within double gilt floral borders around sides both with incorporated coat of arms of Amsterdam within vegetal ornaments, armorial corner ornaments, speckled edges. Vellum darkened, a 2.5 cm split to the middle of the upper joint, one abrasion and a pale mark to the upper cover, some gilt tooling partially faded,traces of ties, scattered foxing.

Magnificent copy of the Neoplatonist biographies of Pythagoras by Iamblichus and Porphyry, with the arms of the city of Amsterdam featuring the Stedemaagd, the allegorical female figure of the city flanked by cherubs.

Second illustrated edition, with 68 wood engravings within the text.

The first leaf bears, on its verso, a few lines of music (the recto is blank). On the final leaf, the same score reveals, when folded, lines of writing: "Les notes musicales qui servent de Frontispice à cet Ouvrage, ressemblent parfaitement au Discours & à la Musique ci-dessus. C'est la manière de plier le papier qui fait paraître l'un & disparaître l'autre" (cf. Fechner, p. 152).

Paris: Chez l'Auteur, Granger, Bailly, Lesclapart, Hardouin & Gattey, Varin, Lagrange [Printed by Veuve Hérissant], 1786. Octavo (in-8), 2 ff. n. ch., pp. [v] to xix, 328 pp., 1 folding unnumbered leaf in accordion format, 68 woodcuts in the text.

Bound in modern pastiche half brown calf with vellum tips, spine with gilt fillets and small tools, green morocco label, endpapers and pastedowns lightly shaded, red edges.

The first edition of this text appeared in 1785.

This volume constitutes the third part of Henri Decremps' renowned treatise on recreational science, the first volume of which, La Magie Blanche dévoilée, was printed in 1784; a supplement appeared in 1785, followed by this Testament, then a fourth and fifth part.

"Henri Decremps, born in Beduer-en-Quercy on April 15, 1746, died in 1826, jurist, mathematician and Doctor of Law, served as interpreter-secretary at the French Embassy to the Court of England" [Fechner].

A pleasant copy.

First edition of the French translation, revised under the author's supervision, by Joseph Lavallée, of this highly regarded travel account.

The atlas includes 16 plates depicting views and natural history subjects, 12 pages of engraved music, and 1 folding map (cf. Monglond VI 729–730).

Contemporary bindings in half blond calf over green vellum-tipped boards, smooth spines decorated with gilt tooling, yellow edges, for the three text volumes.

Contemporary binding for the atlas in half green sheep with vellum tips, smooth spine decorated with triple gilt fillets, soft green paper-covered boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns.

Wormholes on title pages, scuffed boards, joints starting, some foxing to the text volumes; minor abrasions and some foxing to the atlas boards.

Giuseppe Acerbi was the first Italian traveller to reach Lapland and the North Cape in 1799. He compiled an excellent general overview of Sweden and its northernmost regions, but above all, provided a thorough account of Finland, which had been little visited or documented by earlier travellers. Acerbi was accompanied by the Swedish colonel and skilled landscape artist Skioldebrand, whose drawings are reproduced in the atlas.

First edition of this highly significant document on the state of Parisian hospitals at the end of Louis XVI's reign, written by Jacques Tenon (1724–1816), surgeon at the Salpêtrière, which remained an influential reference for French hospital policy through to the Third Republic.

The work is complete with its 17 folding plates (including 2 tables and 14 architectural plans and elevations of hospitals).

Some light foxing; the copy appears to have been rebound in this later binding.

Contemporary pastiche binding in half Havana sheep, flat spine with gilt fillets and the gilt cipher and arms of the Chodron de Courcel family, green paper-covered boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns.

The composition of this text took place within the framework of a public debate on the future of the Hôtel-Dieu hospital in Paris.

In the 18th century, the Hôtel-Dieu was notoriously overcrowded, unsanitary, and prone to fires. It was used almost exclusively by the destitute who had no other care options, and it had gained a reputation as a "death trap" due to its dire conditions and high mortality rate. Two major fires had occurred in 1737 and 1772, the latter destroying much of the complex. In this context, the Baron de Breteuil, Secretary of the King’s Household, commissioned the Académie des sciences to investigate; Tenon's report was the outcome of that consultation. The text comprises five memoranda:

1. General overview of Parisian hospitals
2. Architecture, organization, and outcomes of the major hospitals in Paris
3. Location, surface area, and optimal sites
4. Description and organization of the Hôtel-Dieu in Paris
5. Architecture and organization of a hospital intended to replace the Hôtel-Dieu. Tenon counted 48 hospitals in Paris, excluding the smallest institutions: 22 hospitals for the sick, 20 for able-bodied paupers, and 6 for the indigent (sick or otherwise). He also mentions a hospital specifically for Protestants. Their legal status was complex: some were what we would now call public (under the authority of the King, the City Hall, the Archbishop...), others private (run by religious congregations or funded by lay donations for orphans and the needy). Tenon finally proposes the creation of a purpose-built hospital—what he calls a “healing machine”—a measurable structure subject to management and evaluation. It would be based on principles such as visibility (patients should be distributed so that they can be seen, distinguished, evaluated, and compared), and adequacy and appropriateness in terms of rest space, air circulation, and separation of patients and diseases (isolation of the contagious).

First edition of the author's first work; Aboal Amaro, Amerigo Vespucci, page 31. Leclerc, 263 (does not mention this edition). Sabin, 10704.

Contemporary limp cream paper boards, plain spine, original binding.

Spine worn with some loss, a marginal stain affecting two leaves at the beginning, otherwise a clean and attractive copy.

This essay, in which the author argued "with a certain force of reasoning" (Larousse) that Vespucci discovered America before Christopher Columbus, was awarded the prize of the Academy of Cortona in 1788. The Florentine scholar Stanislas Canovai (1740–1811) devoted his life to restoring the reputation of the famed navigator Amerigo Vespucci, publishing several works on the subject. The last of these, published posthumously in 1817, is mentioned by Sabin with the following comment: "It is hardly possible to understand how calumnies against Amerigo, which have so long been taught in every school, could have, for many years, survived this excellent refutation."

Leclerc notes: "A dissertation much attacked, which gave rise to numerous inquiries into early Spanish voyages to the Indies." Dedication epistle to Giovanni Luigi di Durfort.

Manuscript ex-libris on the title page and engraved armorial bookplate pasted on the front pastedown.

Rare first edition of this elementary Arabic grammar, the author's first publication, composed at the beginning of his teaching career in Oriental languages at Jena by the pastor and theologian Heinrich Eberhard Gottlob Paulus (1761–1851), who would later become known primarily for his systematically rationalist interpretation of the Scriptures.

Illustrated with 5 folding tables.

We have identified only three copies in the CCF (Bulac, Strasbourg, and Chambéry).

Some occasional foxing, small loss of leather to the lower left corner of the upper board.

Contemporary full tree calf binding, spine with gilt fillets, garlands and floral tools, cherry-red morocco label, gilt roll tooling to headcaps, dentelle border, gilt single fillet and egg-and-dart garland on covers, gilt single fillet on edges, marbled endpapers and pastedowns with gilt dentelle border, yellow edges.

Rare original edition of this work, not listed by Renouard.

Disbound copy, internally well preserved.

First edition illustrated with 39 aquatint engravings, 37 of which are hand-colored (cf Atabey, 624. Hage-Chahine, 2388.)

Finely engraved and colored, the illustrations evoke the design of Persian miniatures: portraits (Fath Ali Shah, Abbas I, Nadir Shah), figures in costumes (Persian women, slave and eunuch from the harem, Persian rider…), views and ancient monuments (Tehran, ruins of Persepolis), scenes of daily life (Persian meal, village entertainments, writing master and his pupil, Persians in prayer…), musical instruments, etc.

Half dark green shagreen bindings, smooth spine decorated with double gilt fillets, gilt friezes on the head and tail, cat’s-eye paper boards with some marginal wear, endpapers and pastedowns made of handmade paper, speckled edges, slightly later bindings.

Some foxing, frontispiece of volume 4 restored, detached ex-libris mark on the pastedown of the first volume.

The orientalist Amable Louis Marie Michel Bréchillet-Jourdain, known as Jourdain (1788-1818), was a student of Sylvestre de Sacy before becoming assistant secretary at the School of Oriental Languages. He studied Persian and Arabic and was a secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Rare copy.

First edition of the French translation, illustrated with a portrait of the author and 29 engraved plates depicting objects, ornaments, coins, plants, and animals (cf. Cordier, Bibl. Japonica, 447. Gay, 3151. Brunet, V, 850).

Contemporary full marbled calf bindings, flat spines richly decorated with gilt typographic tools, gilt roll tooling at head and tail, brown morocco title-pieces, dark green morocco volume labels, gilt roll-tooled borders on boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt fillets on board edges, yellow edges.

A Swedish botanist and naturalist, Carl Peter Thunberg (1743–1828) studied medicine and natural history at Uppsala and became one of Linnaeus’s most brilliant pupils.

In 1771, he sailed as a surgeon aboard a ship of the Dutch East India Company. Upon arrival at the Cape, he remained in the colony for three years, exploring regions inhabited by the Hottentots and the Kaffirs while collecting specimens of plants and animals. In 1775, he traveled to Java, stayed in Batavia, and eventually reached Japan. He settled on the island of Deshima, in Nagasaki Bay, where the Dutch trading post of the Company was located. There he worked as a physician and obtained permission to botanize in the nearby mountains, where he collected a large number of rare and previously unknown plants, along with many natural history specimens. In 1776, he accompanied the Dutch Company’s director on a visit to the shogun in Edo (Tokyo), allowing him to explore further and gather more botanical samples. He returned to Sweden in 1779. The first volume recounts the voyage to the Cape of Good Hope, his stays at the Cape, and his first journey inland; the second volume describes his second trip along the Kaffir coast, return to the Cape, journey to Java, and arrival in Nagasaki; the third is entirely devoted to Japan: trade with the Dutch and Chinese, government, administration, religion, language, character and portrait of the Japanese, zoological observations, minerals, etc. The final volume continues with Japan: food, festivals, weaponry, agriculture, calendar, etc., followed by the account of the return voyage via Ceylon. It also includes Lamarck’s explanations of the eight natural history plates.

A rare copy of this important travel account.

Provenance: From the library of the Château de Menneval, with armorial bookplates on the pastedowns of each volume.

Rare first edition (cf. Gay 367; Leclerc 638).

The work is illustrated with a map of the port and harbor of Brest and five plates: How the beds of the Negroes are made [and] The house of the Negroes – How the Moors ride their Camels, Horses and Oxen with their merchandise – How the Negroes collect palm wine [sic] [and] How they climb the palm trees [and] How the Negroes make incisions to extract the palm wine [and] how they are dressed – Dress of lords and notable persons – How the women are dressed and how they carry their children on their backs [and] How the Negroes dance in a circle.

This account is considered a valuable narrative, offering noteworthy details on the trade of these regions.

Contemporary full mottled tan calf, spine with five raised bands framed with black fillets, bands renewed, hinges restored, corners worn, minor wear to edges, yellow edges sprinkled with red.

A surgeon at the Hôtel-Dieu in Paris, Le Maire was brought along by Dancourt, director general of the Company.

He left Paris in January 1682 and arrived in Gorée on May 20. It remains unclear why this contemporary of Louis XIV is regularly confused in bibliographies and public catalogues with the Dutch navigator Jacob Le Maire (1585–1616), with whom he shares no connection.

Second edition of Lucas’s third journey to the Near East, undertaken between 1714 and 1717 (first published in 1729); cf. Gay, 2122. Chadenat, 5090. Atabey 734. Blackmer, 1038.

The illustrations include two folding maps (Anatolia and surrounding regions by de l’Isle; Lower Egypt and the course of the Nile by Lucas) and 32 plates outside the text: monuments, picturesque views, architectural plans, archaeological artefacts, various inscriptions, etc.

Contemporary half tawny sheep, smooth spines ruled in gilt with triple fillets, headcaps stained, some rubbing, marbled paper boards, sprinkled edges, some wear to the edges of the first volume. 19th-century bindings.

Pleasant internal condition.

According to Brunet (III, 1204), the text was written by Abbé Banier.

A soldier, naturalist, collector and dealer, Paul Lucas (Rouen, 1664 – Madrid, 1737) showed a marked passion for travel from an early age.

He first left for the Levant to trade in precious stones, joining the Venetian army in 1688 and becoming captain of a ship armed against the Turks. Returning to France in 1696 with a collection of antiquities and coins he sold to the King's Cabinet, he was commissioned by Louis XIV to undertake journeys that would make him famous. From 1699 to 1703, he visited Egypt, Cyprus, Persia and Syria. His second expedition, from 1704 to 1708, took him to Greece, Macedonia, Asia Minor, the Holy Land, Egypt and Libya. In 1714, he was entrusted with a new mission in the Levant: he travelled through Rumelia and Thessaly, passed through Constantinople and Smyrna before visiting Syria, Palestine and Egypt. Departing from Cairo, he returned to Paris in December 1717.

First edition, illustrated with a frontispiece, a portrait of the author, and 14 copper-engraved vignettes within the text, mostly depicting inhabitants of the North (cf Sabin, 38711.)

Restored binding in full grained morocco, spine with five false raised bands adorned with gilt fillets and double compartments, gilded roulettes on the partially faded caps, small repairs to the joints, gilt fillets on the edges, slightly worn corners, binding of the period.

Ink annotations on the white endpaper and at the top of the false-title page.

Born in Rouen in 1634, La Martinière embarked around 1670 as a surgeon on a ship of the Northern Company bound for Norway, and visited Lapland, New Zemble, the Siberian coasts, and Iceland.

His account contains numerous details on the lifestyle, customs, and superstitions of the peoples of these regions, as well as natural history (reindeer, bears, penguins, etc.). There are also passages on hunting and fishing. Author of several medical works, notably on blood transfusion, La Martinière also published 'The Happy Slave', Paris, 1674, in which he recounts his captivity by the Barbary corsairs a few years before his voyage to Norway. A fine copy of this rare book.

Provenance: from the library of the Menneval château with its engraved bookplate pasted on the inside cover.

First edition, very difficult to find complete, as the third volume was published eight years after the first two.

Bound in full mottled bronze-green calf, smooth spines richly decorated with gilt floral compartments, red morocco labels for title and volume number, gilt rolls on the caps, joints slightly rubbed, gilt roll-tooled borders on the covers entirely adorned with oblong geometric patterns in blind, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt Greek-key borders framing the pastedowns, bookplate mounted on the pastedown of the first volume, gilt fillets on the edges, all edges gilt, contemporary bindings.

Contains anecdotes about Rousseau, Poivre, Turgot, Helvétius, Benjamin Franklin, Holbach, Cardinal de La Rochefoucauld, the Marquise de Pompadour, Calonne, Necker, Beaujon…

A handsome copy attractively bound in a period decorative binding.

Rare first edition of this curious travel account, originally written entirely in verse (7,500 lines), though the author—on the advice of friends—agreed to intersperse it with prose narrative (retaining 2,500 lines of verse); see Sabin 20128, Gagnon 1134 (1710 edition), and Dionne II.

Contemporary full brown calf binding, spine with five raised bands, gilt compartments decorated with gilt floral tools, cherry red morocco label, gilt roll tooling at head and foot, double black fillet border on covers, gilt fillets on board edges, sprinkled yellow edges with red mottling.

Lower right corner of upper cover restored; some spots and minor scuffs to the boards; occasional light foxing, otherwise internally fresh and appealing.

Unlike the second edition of 1710, this copy was not issued with a frontispiece. Almost nothing is known about the life of Dières de Dièreville, a surgeon, possibly born around 1670, who embarked in August 1699 aboard the *Royale Paix* from La Rochelle for a trading mission to Acadia. He arrived on 13 October and remained in the region for a year, studying both the Acadians and the Indigenous peoples, while also collecting plant specimens for the Jardin du Roi in Paris. His return voyage took place from 6 October to 9 November 1700, after which he settled as a surgeon in Pont-l'Évêque. At the request of Michel Bégon, Intendant of La Rochelle, he wrote the account of his travels. He was still alive in 1711, but nothing further is known of his life.