Rare botany books: flora, herbaria, medicinal plants, horticulture, atlases and colored plates of natural history

First edition, illustrated with twenty plates, including one folding plate. Three vignettes and several ornamental initials.

Full basane binding, triple gilt fillet framing the boards, spine with six raised bands decorated with gilt compartments, fleurons and rolls, green morocco title-piece, gilt fillet on the board edges, gilt inner dentelle, stone paper boards. Binding rubbed and scuffed, with abrasions and losses, upper joint split and lower joint partially split at the foot, old traces of mould staining in the margins of several leaves at the beginning of the volume.

Manuscript inscription "Sansac" on the title page.

First edition.

Marbled paper wrappers, marbled edges. Wrappers slightly creased, a few ink spots, a dampstain to the upper part of the title page that fades progressively on the following pages.

Rare first collected edition, and the only edition produced for this title, illustrated by George Roux with 30 full-page plates, some printed in chromolithography.

Publisher's binding known as the "À l'éventail à un éléphant" design, with the title set within the fan, lighthouse spine slightly faded as usual, Engel type i rear cover with the JH monogram in upright letters at the centre of the rosette, all edges gilt. 
Spine ends slightly sagged, as often, a few minor spots of foxing.
A science-fiction novel whose protagonist, Storitz, acquires the power of invisibility by drinking a potion. The work appears to have been first written in the same year as the publication of H...

First edition.

Rare copy of this esoteric work by Lazare Meyssonnier, physician and "professor of the science of spirit", on demonology and diabolic possession, the theology of the names of God and Hebrew Kabbalah, the various types of magic, operative alchemy, anatomy, angelology..

Full calf, spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt fillets and fleurons, faded gilt-lettered title, new endpapers added, speckled edges. Joints split, a few scuffs to the leather, gilt partly faded, first three leaves browned, a few tears, dampstaining to a majority of the leaves, and wormholes without loss to the...

Original albumen print photograph depicting Louis Pasteur, in cabinet card format, mounted on thick card with Chalot's imprint, photographer, 18 rue de Vivienne, Paris.

A photograph mounted on thick card, with the photographer's address printed in red in the lower margin.

A fine copy.

First edition of the French translation, illustrated with a photographic portrait of Albert Einstein as frontispiece.

A small loss at the foot of the spine, which also shows rubbing along the joints, upper right corner of the front board starting to come loose, a slight marginal tear just below, pleasant internal condition, manuscript bookplate at the head of a flyleaf.

Annotations and markings in red pen on pages 8 and 9.

Work illustrated with figures in the text.

First edition, first printing, complete with its engraved title page and dedication page, as well as its 59 maps, most of them multicoloured, all mounted on guards. Our copy is bound with the "Catalogue des ouvrages, tant anciens que modernes, du fonds du Sr Desnos, Ingénieur-Géographe pour les Globes & Sphères" for the year 1765.

Contemporary binding in full tree-calf, spine with five raised bands and gilt-tooled compartments decorated with pomegranate fleurons, red morocco lettering-piece, triple blind-ruled...

First edition of the French translation, one of 110 numbered copies on alfa paper, the only deluxe paper issue after 10 on Holland and 20 on pur fil.

A fine copy.

Rare first edition of this collection of papers on the production and uses of India rubber.

Illustrated with 3 plates hors texte comprising 6 figures.

Only one copy recorded in the CCF (Musée de l'Homme).

Publisher's Bradel-style binding in full black cloth, smooth spine.

D. Spence, who edited the volume, appears indeed to have been, despite his young age at the time, David Spence (1881-1957), a chemist specialising in rubber manufacture.

Rare first edition, illustrated with 17 folding maps or plates.

Small tears with minor losses to the spine, light marginal spotting to the boards, library classification in blue pencil in the left margin of the upper cover.

Pavel Passalsky (1870-1900) was appointed observer at the Meteorological Observatory of the University of Odessa in 1894, where he devoted himself primarily to magnetic measurements; this posthumous work, prefaced by Boris Weinberg, is the result.

Krivoi Rog, now in Ukraine and known as Kryvyi Rih, has, since Tsarist times, been a major industrial and metallurgical centre in a mining region.

The city extends over some fifty kilometres...

Complete year for 1787, with 50 issues, of this health journal with continuous pagination (pagination error between nos. 48 and 49).

Contemporary half marbled sheep, smooth spine, bronze sheep lettering-piece, rubbing to the spine, domino-patterned paper boards, a few scuffs to the boards, corners worn and small nicks to the edges, red edges, contemporary binding. 

The journal, founded in 1773 by Jean-Jacques Gardane, doctor-regent of the Faculty of Medicine of Paris, would run for 17 years, with one volume per year, except for the years 1773-1774.

Jean-Jacques Gardane distinguished himself in the establishment in Paris of treatment houses for the poor and in the...

Rare second edition, illustrated with 13 figures in the text.

Spine and boards slightly sunned at the edges, losses to the spine, which has been reinforced; front wrapper tending to detach; one gathering bound in reverse order (pages 89 to 91).

The obstetrician Charles Maygrier (1849-1926) was an obstetric physician at the Hôpital de la Charité and agrégé professor at the Paris Faculty of Medicine.

At the head of the front wrapper, autograph presentation inscription from Charles Maygrier to Dr Franck, a member of the Académie de médecine (Charles-Émile François-Franck, 1849-1921), a specialist in heart disease.

Rare illustrated first edition, with 4 plates at the end of the volume, including two folding maps.

Small tears neatly repaired to the spine, minor angular losses to the boards, heavy foxing.

Joseph Lartigue (1791-1876), a naval captain, distinguished himself through his work in nautical meteorology and cartography. 

Copy from the physicist Edmond Becquerel (1820-1891), member of the Académie des sciences, with an autograph signed presentation inscription from Joseph Lartigue at the head of the upper cover.

First edition, very scarce, of this important work.

Contemporary-style half speckled fawn calf binding, smooth spine decorated with triple gilt fillets, green shagreen title label, small vellum corners, marbled paper boards, bookplate pasted onto a pastedown, red edges, modern binding.

A restored loss to the left margin of the title page.

Hydrogéologie contains Lamarck’s geological observations gathered during his travels in Germany, Hungary, and France.

Its principal merit lies in demonstrating the considerable importance of plants and animals as agents of geological transformation.

It is in this work that the word biology appears for the first time, on...

First edition (cf. Sinkankas 3165. Lorenz X, p. 8.)

Contemporary-style binding in half tobacco calf, smooth spine decorated with gilt and blind fillets as well as blind fleurons, black morocco title label, marbled paper boards, wrappers partially soiled and preserved, modern binding signed Laurenchet.

Some foxing.

Crystallization, the diamond in antiquity, characteristics, composition, origin, attempts at artificial production, deposits (India, Oceania, Brazil, the Cape, various mines), cutting, trade, paragons or principal known diamonds.

Henri Jacobs, born in Antwerp, was a diamond merchant in Paris.

First edition of the extract from the fourth part, devoted to geology and palaeontology, of Pierre de Tchihatcheff’s work entitled: Asia Minor. A Physical, Statistical and Archaeological Description of the Region.

Contemporary full beige paper-covered boards, smooth spine lettered in black with the author's name, title and author's name neatly inscribed in ink on the upper board, bumped corners.

Our copy brings together the five palaeontological papers by the naturalist Paul-Henri Fischer (1835-1893): Middle Tertiary Fauna. - Lacustrine Tertiary Fauna. - Upper Marine Tertiary Fauna (Steppe Limestone). - Quaternary Formation (Raised Beaches). - Microscopic Organisms...

An unrecorded edition of the first of the nine geographical booklets published by Marc Bonifas, known as Du Carla (1738-1816), between 1779 and 1780. 

At the end of the volume, the work is illustrated with a folding plate.

A light dampstain to the upper margins of the final leaves.

Bradel binding in full blue paper-covered boards, smooth spine, date at foot, navy blue sheep title-piece, modern binding.

Ordinary editions bear the Geneva imprint, and the pagination is more extensive. 

The author is chiefly known for having been the first to advocate the use of contour lines for the representation of terrain, extending to topography techniques already employed...

Paris, G. Masson, 1872. Quarto, 3 unnumbered leaves, ix and 196 pages, with 51 lithographed plates.

First edition of this important and very rare work, issued in a small number of copies. Catalogue Petit, 656; Bibliotheca piscatoria, p. 75; Nissen, ZBI, 1018.

Complete with all 51 plates, numbered I-L with an additional plate XXXV bis. They form two distinct series: 36 plates devoted to nets, fish-farming apparatus and fishing implements used in China, followed by 15 plates depicting fishes collected by the author, including several species then new to European science...

Rare first edition printed in a small number of copies.

Our copy is preserved in its original blue paper provisional wrappers.

Born at Annonay in 1811, Auguste Bravais entered the École Polytechnique in 1829.

Having become a hydrographic engineer, he undertook several expeditions before embarking, in 1835, aboard the Recherche, dispatched to the Arctic regions in an attempt to locate Blosseville's Lilloise. There he carried out numerous observations in meteorology, terrestrial magnetism, and astronomy.

Appointed Professor of Mathematics Applied to Astronomy at the Faculty of Sciences in Lyon in 1840, he gave up seafaring and devoted himself...

First edition of the final work devoted to the Canary Islands by the zoologist and ethnographer Sabin Berthelot (1794-1880), whose first stay in the islands dates back to 1820.

From that time onward, he resided for the most part in Tenerife and devoted himself to the study of his adopted country.

At the end of the volume, the work is illustrated with 20 plates printed outside the text, some with coloured subjects.

A few minor spots of foxing.

New edition, partly original, constituting a revised and expanded version of the author’s doctoral thesis.

A few minor spots of foxing. 

Contemporary full fawn calf, smooth spine gilt with decorative friezes and floral tools, slight rubbing to the joints, red shagreen title label, gilt rolls to the spine ends, marbled endpapers, marbled edges, gilt fillets to the board edges, period binding. 

A military physician, the author took part in the Russian campaign and was attached to the Imperial Guard field hospitals in Vilna under the command of Larrey. 

First edition illustrated with a folding lithographed plate.

No copy recorded in the CCF.

Minor tears with small losses to the margins of the boards and to the spine.

Autograph inscription, in French, by José Vicente Barbosa do Bocage on the half-title.

José Vicente Barboza (Barbosa) du (do) Bocage (1823–1908), Portuguese statesman and zoologist, served as director of the National Museum of Zoology in Lisbon. He is unrelated to his namesakes, the French geographers of the Barbier du Bocage family.

Bound in, and by the same author: "Noticia acerca da descoberta nas costas de Portugal d'um zoophyto da familia hyalochaetides, Brandt...

Illustrated first edition, lacking the frontispiece portrait of Hippocrates, but complete with its five plates, fine decorative initials and large tailpieces.

Contemporary full tree calf, smooth spine richly gilt with, among other decorations, a palmette roll, tan morocco lettering piece, gilt roll on board edges. Ink ownership inscription on the front pastedown: "J. E. Petrequin \ lyon, nov. 1856," in the hand of Joseph Pierre Eléonor Pétrequin, chief surgeon at the Hôtel-Dieu de Lyon, who received the...

First edition, complete with the two posthumous volumes issued in 1800 and written by Chaptal, Parmentier, Biot, and others. It is illustrated with 248 plates, several of them folding, a frontispiece in volume 10, and a map of France in volume 1; together with several folding tables. Text printed in double columns.

Contemporary full brown calf. Spines with raised bands, decorated with two grotesque compartments and two urn tools. Black calf lettering and volume labels. Losses to the headcaps of volumes 9 and 10. In volume 1, the outer margin trimmed over approximately 10 cm. In volume 1, the headcap partly worn, and a brown dampstain in the upper margin of the final leaves. Two or...

First edition, illustrated with a folding map and 469 engravings within the text.

Contemporary half black shagreen, the spine with four raised bands ruled in gilt and decorated with triple blind-tooled panels, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns; a few small scuffs to the edges, corners slightly rubbed.

Contents include: history; construction and manufacture of telegraph cables; laying and repair of submarine cables; electrical testing; fault detection; signal transmission; and the operation of submarine lines.

The author, Jules Hippolyte Eugène Wünschendorff (1840–1901), was an engineer with the telegraph service and director of military...

First edition illustrated with 59 engravings. 

A repaired tear at the head of one joint; covers marginally darkened; the interior remains in pleasing condition.

This work belongs to the first phase of the highly controversial research conducted by the French surgeon of Russian origin, Sergueï Abramovitch Voronoff (1866–1951).

Between 1917 and 1926, Voronoff carried out more than five hundred transplantations on sheep, goats, and even a bull, grafting the testicles of younger animals onto older ones.

His observations appeared to suggest that such transplantations restored vitality to ageing animals. From this, he went on to regard the transplantation of monkey...

First edition.

The association of the Lumière brothers’ name with the development of the cinematograph should not obscure the fact that Auguste Lumière (1862–1954) was first and foremost a biologist of distinction.

Having as early as 1895 left the new invention to his brother Louis, he established a laboratory of experimental physiology and pharmacodynamics in order to direct his discoveries toward experimental medicine.

This laboratory became the Lumière Laboratories in Lyon, which he personally directed until October 25th, 1940, when he transferred the presidency of the company to his son, while continuing his research until his death.

Fine copy. 

First edition, printed in a small number of copies, of this offprint from the Annales d'Hygiène publique et de médecine Légale, 1849, vol. XLII.

Modern Bradel binding in marbled-paper-covered boards, smooth spine without lettering.

Only three copies recorded in the CCF.

This memoir offers a detailed study of the physical characteristics associated with various occupations: laundresses, hairdressers, writers, prostitutes, bookbinders, dyers, etc.

Son of the draughtsman and cartographer Ambroise Tardieu, Auguste-Ambroise Tardieu (1818-1879) was one of the founders of forensic medicine; he published numerous monographs on medical questions relating to...

Rare first edition, illustrated with a large engraved plate depicting a lead-smelting furnace and protective masks for miners.

Norman Library 2052 (without the plate). Garrison-Morton 2098: "Classical description of the diseases found among lead-workers. Reporting on 1200 cases of lead poisoning, Tanquerel's studies were so complete that later studies added little to the knowledge of the symptoms and signs of the disease".

Spines browned, a few light spots of foxing, a small hole to the lower right corner of the front board of the first volume, upper right corner of the front board of the second volume creased.

Original wrappers, as issued.

First edition of this in-folio broadside signed "Phelypeaux", printed on one side only and in two columns.

A scarce and pleasing copy despite traces of central folding.

First edition, illustrated with five engraved plates (see Crowley 894; David 258; Poletti 182).

Scattered foxing, otherwise a pleasing copy.

Contemporary half sheep, the flat spine gilt with decorative rolls and small tools, black morocco lettering-piece, headcap worn, some rubbing to spine and joints, marbled paper boards.

"… Serres did research into the development of the bones and teeth…" (D.S.B., XII, 315).

First edition of the French translation prepared by J. de Rey-Pailhade and Henry-Joseph Sauvaire, issued in a small printing as an offprint from the Journal asiatique.

A few small spots of foxing; a pleasing and uncommon copy.

Half green cloth, smooth spine with red morocco title-label, ‘œil-de-chat’ patterned paper over boards, sprinkled edges.

Illustrated with two double-page plates outside the text.

Born in Marseille, Henri Sauvaire (1831–1896) began his career in the consular service before turning to Near-Eastern archaeology.

On the half-title, a presentation inscription in the hand of Henri-Joseph Sauvaire to the archaeologist...

First edition.

Our copy is preserved in its original wrappers beneath a plain cover, the spine split with losses to the paper and the title label also with defects.

Pleasing condition internally, with only occasional foxing.

Among the finest works relating to naval medicine; a substantial section (pp. 90–212) is devoted to scurvy.

The author, a physician in the Dutch navy, composed this work entirely from his own firsthand observations. 

A substantial section (pp. 90–212) is devoted to scurvy.

First edition of one of the many productions of an odontological charlatan (cf. David, p. 245).

Illustrated with a portrait of the author as frontispiece.

Spine clumsily restored with an adhesive repair and showing small losses; corner losses to the boards; foxing.

Born into a Dutch Jewish family, Benjamin Cohen (1818–1852) adopted an Anglicised pseudonym in order to facilitate his business dealings, passing himself off as a London practitioner holding a degree from the University of Edinburgh, where he claimed to have been "admitted" in 1833. In reality, he had undertaken no formal studies.

Nevertheless, he set himself up as a dentist in Paris in 1836. Lacking any...

First edition, printed in a small number of copies, of this offprint from the Bulletins de la Société d'antropologie, volume IV, 2nd series, for the year 1869.

According to the CCFr, copies are held only at the BnF and in Arles.

The work discusses the transformist hypothesis. A native of the Upper Palatinate, Franz Ignaz Pruner (1808-1882), known as Pruner-Bey following his years in Egypt, returned to Europe in 1860 and settled in Paris, where he devoted himself to anthropological studies.

A few small losses to the corners of the spine and wrappers, with occasional minor foxing.

Rare first edition (cf. Pritzel 7288).

Only three copies recorded in the CCF (BnF, Amiens and Montpellier).

Bound in a modern bradel binding of full blue paper-covered boards, smooth spine without lettering, printed paper title label pasted at the centre of the upper cover, a small dampstain at the foot of the spine.

The author, an apothecary in Montpellier, later qualified as a doctor of medicine.

First edition.

Light scuffing to the boards.

Bradel binding in half black shagreen, smooth spine lettered in gilt vertically, green paper-covered boards, modern binding.

Paper by M. Breton-Laugier, vinegar manufacturer of Orléans, on the advantages of Pasteur’s system, pp. [5]–7; Wine industry, pp. [9]–15.

Very rare first edition printed in a small number of copies of this offprint from the Fourth International Congress of Hygiene and Demography, session of 5 September 1882.

Spine and boards slightly faded and yellowed at the margins; interior in pleasing condition.

In this communication, Louis Pasteur examines all the new studies carried out in collaboration with Chamberland, Roux and Thuillier since the publication of the 1880 memoir.

Its principal purpose is to provide examples of the attenuation of viruses under the influence of atmospheric oxygen. He also summarizes the criticisms that had appeared in the collected works of the German Sanitary Office.

Extremely rare first edition, illustrated with two plates and issued as a separate offprint from the Phytographia Canariensis of the Histoire naturelle des Îles Canaries by Barker-Webb and Sabin Berthelot.

The plates, lithographed by J. Rigaud et Cie, were drawn by Alfred Riocreux, the gifted botanical artist and pupil of Redouté, responsible, among other works, for Choix de plantes de la Nouvelle-Zélande (1846).

Some foxing.

Contemporary binding in red half-morocco with corners, smooth spine ruled in gilt at head and foot, long-grained title, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns.

Not recorded by Nissen.

The Vicomte de...

Substantial collection of theses submitted to the Special School of Medicine of Strasbourg between 1803 and 1808, composed in Latin or French and arranged in reverse chronological order.

Contemporary binding in speckled fawn half sheep, smooth spine decorated with triple gilt fillets, black sheep lettering-piece partly rubbed, vellum tips, yellow edges, corners worn; period binding.

I. ORDINAIRE (Désiré): Dissertation sur l'influence de l'habitude sur les facultés physiques et morales de l'homme (2 ll. unnumbered, 33 pp.). The Fourierist Désiré Ordinaire (1773-1847) was professor of natural history, then academy inspector and rector of the Academies of Besançon...

First edition.

Our copy is offered unbound.

The dissertation concerned "Les Loix du choc des corps à ressort"; the R. P. Mazière was a priest of the Oratory, born in Pontoise.

First edition.

Small losses to the head and tail of the spine, tears to one joint and to the spine neatly restored, a stain at the foot of the upper cover, slight corner losses to the boards; a clean and attractive copy internally.

At the head of the upper cover, an autograph presentation inscription by Édouard Maurel to a colleague.

Rare first edition of the doctoral thesis by Alexandre Marié (only two copies recorded in the CCFr: Montpellier and the BIUM).

A small nick to the left margin of the upper wrapper, which also bears a small stain; slight marginal tears to the wrappers without seriousness; occasional light foxing.

Presentation inscription signed by Alexandre Marié to Louis Alfred Becquerel at the head of the upper wrapper.

Provenance: copy of Louis Alfred Becquerel (1814–1862), eldest son of Antoine Becquerel and a physician, with the author’s signed presentation inscription. He published in 1853 Des applications de l'électricité à la thérapeutique médicale.

First edition of this uncommon work, printed at Saint-Denis, Réunion, and illustrated by the local photographer E. Vidal, expanding upon a brief notice published as early as 1899 (cf. Ryckebusch II, 5358.)

Illustrated with a frontispiece map and 20 photographic plates hors-texte.

With a preface by M. Garsault.

Spine lacking, wrappers in poor condition, light waterstaining.

Scarce, offered in its present condition.

Born in Rennes, the military physician Jean-Marie Mac-Auliffe (1837-1908) was stationed in Réunion in 1864, and again from 1874 until his death, notably as physician to the thermal baths of Cilaos. In this remote locality he developed considerable...

Very rare first edition.

A single copy is held at the Municipal Archives of Lyon. Absent from the CCFr.

Not recorded in Goldsmith, Kress, Einaudi, or Higgs.

Modern Bradel-style binding in full beige boards, printed title label, signed by Hervé.

Lengthy discussion of the trade in tallow, animal fats used in the manufacture of candles.

The authors argue that butchers are not responsible for the high price of tallow, and that the ordinance of 16 April 1771, which prohibited its export, in fact hampers the trade in this commodity. In conclusion, the butchers request not to be placed at the mercy of the chandlers, whether in terms of price or outlets.

Corner...

First edition describing 554 entries (this list was later revised in 1935 and again in 1943).

Spine and covers slightly and marginally faded, a tear to the head of the spine.

A copy complete with the inserted two-leaf addenda.

From 1893 to 1953, the year preceding his death, Auguste Lumière published no fewer than 62 major works and 784 scientific articles, particularly in the fields of medicine and biology.

Rare illustrated first edition with two large folding plates (Lugeol system; regulatory system) (see Polak 6168).

Lettered spine restored and reattached; pleasing internal condition.

The only edition of this scarce work (the 1845 edition noted by the Bibliothèque nationale appears to be a misreading).

Jean-Gustave Lugeol (1799–1866), who entered the navy in 1813, held the rank of captain in 1843; he took part in most naval campaigns of the Restoration and the July Monarchy; promoted to rear admiral in 1852, he remained on active service until 1864.

First edition of Jacques Le Meilleur’s medical thesis.

Our copy is presented disbound.

Waterstaining at head throughout, not affecting the text.

First edition of this rare offprint from the "Revue médicale et journal de clinique"

A single copy recorded in the CCFr (BnF).

Bradel binding in full boards covered with dark blue marbled paper, red shagreen spine label, pasted ex-libris on the inside board; modern binding signed Lobstein-Laurenchet.

Jean-Louis Lassaigne (1800–1859) taught chemistry at the Veterinary School of Alfort until 1854 and devoted particular attention to the medical applications of chemistry.

Bound at the end, by the same author: "Mémoire sur la possibilité de reconnaître, par les moyens chimiques, la présence de l'acétate de morphine chez les animaux empoisonnés par cette...

First edition, printed in a small number of copies, of this offprint from the Mémoires de la Société naturelle des sciences naturelles de Cherbourg, vol. XX (1876).

See O'Reilly, Tahiti, 2693. Only three copies recorded in the CCF (BnF, Aix-Marseille, Cherbourg).

Bradel binding in blue half cloth, smooth spine, long red marbled morocco title label, marbled paper sides, original wrappers preserved, modern signed binding by Boichot.

This pamphlet, which contains a large number of botanical entries on the Marquesas, Tahiti, the Sandwich Islands, New Zealand, etc., is a continuation of the study entitled Les Plantes alimentaires de l'Océanie (1875).

A...

First edition (cf. Wellcome, II, 340).

Our copy is preserved in its original sewn state, in provisional cream paper wrappers.

Signed presentation inscription from Charles-Irénée Jacquin to his colleague Dr Long, physician at Die.

Accompanied by a dated autograph letter signed by Charles-Irénée Jacquin, one page written on both sides, discussing his work and thanking his correspondent for the advice he had given him in the preparation of the present volume.

First edition, issued in a very small number as an offprint from the Bulletins de la Société d'encouragement pour l'industrie nationale, t. CXCI et CXCII.

Not recorded by Quérard.

The pamphlet is illustrated with three folding technical plates, engraved by Normand fils.

Bradel binding in paper-covered boards entirely clad in blue paper, with a black vertical spine label showing minor losses; a modern binding.

The work describes the apparatus devised by the chocolatier Auger, which made it possible to reduce any animal, vegetable or mineral substance to "poussières impalpables, aériformes ou éthérées".

Héricart de Thury, Chief Engineer in the Royal...

First edition, illustrated with 46 wood-engraved figures in the text, including 2 full-page plates (cf. Lorentz, IX, 740; not in Nissen).

Contemporary half red shagreen binding, spine with five raised bands showing some rubbing and a small loss at the foot, marbled paper sides, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, corners rubbed.

Some scattered foxing; a light waterstain in the lower right margin of the final leaves, without affecting the text.

An interesting work awarded the Montyon Prize by the Académie française, addressing the appearance of instinct in the mineral and vegetal worlds; the journey of pollen; carnivorous plants; constructive, maternal, and migratory...

First edition (cf. Crowley 931. David 132. Poletti 92: "Rara").

Contemporary half tan sheep, smooth spine tooled in gilt with floral motifs and gilt fillets, red morocco lettering-piece with a small loss and a scuff, lower headcap lacking, marbled paper boards, marbled edges, period binding.

This celebrated "Manuel du Dentiste permit d'acquérir les indispensables connaissances théoriques…" (Besombes, Hist. de l'Art Dentaire, 282)."

First edition, illustrated at the end of the volume with a folding plate entitled "Système dentaire des oiseaux" (see Crowley 916; David, p. 127; Poletti 90).

Occasional light foxing; a tear along the left margin of the plate not touching the engraved figures.

Contemporary half tawny calf, smooth spine decorated with gilt tools and fillets; a restored snag at the head of the spine, which also shows some rubbing; marbled paper boards, marbled edges.

First edition of the treatise "qui comprend la structure et les fonctions de la bouche, l'histoire de ses maladies, les moyens d'en conserver la santé et la beauté, et les opérations particulières à l'art du dentiste" (cf. Crowley 846. David p. 125. Poletti p. 49.)

Half brown calf binding, the smooth spine decorated with double gilt fillets and gilt panels; rubbing to the spine and joints; marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns; late 19th-century binding.

A few minor spots of foxing.

Illustrated with an engraved title-page, an allegorical frontispiece, and 13 copper-engraved plates printed hors texte.

First edition, printed in a small number of copies, of this offprint of an article from the Bulletins de la Société de Géographie d'Anvers.

Our copy is preserved in its original printed blue wrappers.

A few small marginal losses to the spine and wrappers; internally in very good condition.

This communication by the Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs concerns accounts of explorations carried out in New Guinea: by the Italian explorer Luigi Maria D'Albertis in 1877, and by the Anglican missionaries J. Chalmers and Charles Dudfield in 1878.

Second edition, partly original, as it was revised, corrected and enlarged with a handbook for the cultivation of mulberry trees, setting out the principles by which the fullest advantage may be drawn from this tree, together with the presentation of a new method of cultivation designed to prevent its mortality.

Light dampstaining to the upper outer margin of the first leaves, small losses to the head- and tail-cap of the spine, a few scattered spots.

The work was reissued in 1837 and 1848.

Charles Fraissinet (1798–1856) was a pastor of the Reformed Church at Sauve (Gard).

Although closely involved in the theological controversies of his day, he is best...

First edition.

A comprehensive work setting out in detail the legislation and regulations governing silversmiths, jewellers and watchmakers in the mid-nineteenth century.

Spine cracked with small losses; corners chipped to the boards; some light foxing.

Very rare first edition, printed in a very small number of copies, of this offprint from volume XXIV of the Mémoires de la Société nationale des sciences naturelles et mathématiques de Cherbourg.

Spine split with some loss, foxing and losses to the wrappers; internally in pleasing condition.

Suffering from poor eyesight, Albert-Auguste Fauvel (1851-1909) was forced to abandon the naval career he had hoped to pursue and instead turned to travel and natural-history exploration.

A speaker of Manchu, he entered the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs Service, where he served from 1872 to 1884. He studied the country’s fauna and flora as well as its economy. From...

First edition, illustrated with four plates, three of them folding (cf. Cordier, Sinica 442).

Losses to the head and tail of the spine, marginal tears to the covers, a light dampstain to the lower portion of the upper board, one plate torn across the centre without affecting the images, 

Text of the lecture delivered on 13 December 1878 before the North-China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society.

Albert-Auguste Fauvel (1851–1909), a naval officer, accompanied the Duc de Penthièvre on his voyage around the world (1866–1867).

A graduate in Manchu, he had held a post since 1872 within the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs Service.

A naturalist, he devoted himself...

Very rare first edition, illustrated with an inserted copper-engraved plate by Plée after Turpin (cf. Pritzel 2823).

The CCFr records copies only at the Institut, Rouen, and Montpellier.

Our copy is preserved in its original sewn state with temporary pink paper covers.

Faujas de Saint-Fond (1741–1819) is of course best known as a geologist and vulcanologist, yet his work extended to every other branch of natural history.

First edition, illustrated with a double-page folding map composed of seventeen plates, together with twelve figures in the text (cf. Hague Chahine 1504.).

Bradel binding in half glazed brown cloth, smooth spine with the date gilt at the foot, red shagreen title-label showing minor surface marks, stone-patterned paper boards, corners lightly rubbed; a contemporary binding.

Some scattered foxing.

Account of an archaeological mission including an extensive study of Safaitic inscriptions, with a glossary and an index of proper names.

Rare first edition, cf. Duvivier, I, 143.

Only 2 copies recorded in the CCF (BnF and Muséum).

Half-cloth binding in black, smooth and rebacked spine, marbled paper boards, worn corners, speckled edges.

Minor foxing, not affecting the text.

The author, Father Antoine Duss (Anton Düß, 1840–1924), was a Swiss-born Spiritan missionary naturalized as a French citizen. He carried out his ministry almost exclusively in Martinique, particularly in Fort-de-France. He studied these plants "with care, consulting both ancient and modern works and illustrations published on these cryptogams growing in the Antilles in general, including those by Plumier, Swartz, Sloane, de...

First edition (Pritzel, 2480.)

Our copy is issued in the original wrappers, preserved in a temporary mustard-coloured paper cover; the spine rubbed with losses to the mustard paper, and a library shelf label pasted to the verso of the upper cover.

A very rare botanical monograph written by the great navigator following the scientific expedition sent to the Black Sea and the Greek islands (aboard the vessel La Chevrette), during which he was responsible for observations in natural history and archaeology (it was in the course of this mission that the Venus de Milo was unearthed).

Second edition, revised, corrected and enlarged, illustrated with 145 figures in the text (cf. Wellcome II, 457).

Spine and covers browned, with minor marginal losses; a few light foxing spots.

The first edition was published in 1847; this work constitutes only the second systematic treatise in French devoted to the subject, following that of Carron du Villards.

A former assistant to Sichel, Louis-Auguste Desmarres (1810-1882) was among the foremost ophthalmic surgeons of the nineteenth century.

First edition, printed in a very small number of copies, of this offprint from the "Gazette médicale de Paris" for 1854.

Modern bradel-style binding in full boards covered with blue paper, smooth spine, brown shagreen title label laid down lengthwise with a small abrasion, signed Honnelaître.

On the half-title, a signed autograph presentation inscription by Camille Desjardins: "Offert à M. le professeur Moreau, membre de l'Académie impériale de Médecine, hommage respectueux de l'auteur".

This refers to the celebrated physician François Joseph Moreau (1789–1862), a specialist in gynaecology and close to the Orléans family, for whom he served...

Rare first edition of Louis Pasteur’s text: "Recherches sur la dissymétrie moléculaire des produits organiques naturels" (pp. 1–48, also issued separately as an offprint).

The other papers included in this volume are: "Histoire des radicaux organiques", "Recherches sur les glycols", "De la synthèse en chimie organique", "Des lois des nombres en chimie et de la variation de leurs constantes", "De l’influence exercée par l’atmosphère sur la végétation", and "Pièces historiques concernant Lavoisier et N. Le Blanc".

Some scattered foxing, notably to the edges.

Half black shagreen binding, spine with four...

First edition describing 1,539 entries.

Bound in modern brown half shagreen over marbled paper boards, smooth spine lettered in blind, corners rubbed, bookplate pasted to the front pastedown; a modest modern binding.

Occasional light foxing.

Provenance: copy from the library of the Canadian bookseller G. S. Terence Cavanagh (1923–2005), also librarian of the Trent Collection, with his bookplate pasted to the front pastedown.

First edition (cf. Quérard II, 140).

Our copy is preserved in its original publisher’s wrappers, under the plain pink provisional cover; the spine is split and faded with losses, and there are small marginal tears to the covers.

A scholar and statesman from Île de France (present-day Mauritius), J.-F. Charpentier de Cossigny (1736–1809) was elected deputy for the island to the Constituent Assembly. He returned there in 1800, sent by Bonaparte to announce the advent of the Consular regime and to serve as Director of gunpowder manufacture in Port Louis.

But because he sought to employ enslaved workers while paying them as free men, he encountered such fierce opposition...

First edition (cf. Neu 838.)

Light foxing.

Contemporary full tan sheep, the spine with five raised bands ruled in gilt and decorated with gilt panels and gilt floral tools; some rubbing and small defects to the spine, gilt rolls to the head- and tailcaps, surface wear to the boards, red edges, gilt fillets to the board edges, corners a little softened; a period binding.

First edition of this treatise, long regarded as the finest French-language work in its field (cf. Wellcome II, 305; Garrison & Morton 5853).

Contemporary-style half calf over marbled boards, the spine smooth and gilt with decorative garlands at head and tail, a reused black calf lettering-piece, marbled paper sides, blue-sprinkled edges, bookseller’s ticket of a distinguished firm mounted to a pastedown; a later binding.

Illustrated with 4 folding plates.

Foxing and some dampstaining to the plates, otherwise a clean and agreeable copy.

Carron du Villards (1801–1860), the son of a military physician distinguished during the Napoleonic campaigns, taught...

First edition illustrated with a colour plate and five folding tables at the end of the volume.

Heavy foxing throughout.

Modern half black shagreen binding, spine with five raised bands, marbled paper sides, original front cover mounted and preserved in poor condition.

Signed autograph inscription by Prosper-Ferdinand Burot to Dr Auguste-Ernest Breucq of Bayonne (born 1856).

First edition of Étienne Bourdet’s major treatise, published in Paris in 1757 in two volumes, eleven years after the second edition of Pierre Fauchard’s Le Chirurgien Dentiste. The work is illustrated with 13 folding engraved plates depicting instruments, appliances and dental procedures.

Contemporary full mottled tan calf. Spines with five raised bands outlined in gilt and decorated with gilt floral compartments; bronze calf lettering-pieces, the volume-numbering pieces partly rubbed away; gilt rolls to the headcaps, blind fillet...

First edition, illustrated with 883 figures in the text, some heightened with colour.

Contemporary half roan in a reddish-orange hue, the spines with five raised bands ruled in gilt dots and decorated with gilt florets, some rubbing to the spines and extremities, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns.

Manuscript ownership inscriptions partly erased from the endpapers of the first volume; an orange pencil line to an endpaper in the second volume; occasional pencil marginalia in the margins of several paragraphs in both volumes; a marginal note in red ink in the right margin of p. 37 of the first volume.

First separate edition, printed in a small number of copies, taken from the Annales des sciences naturelles; the work was later republished by Baillière in 1876 (cf. O'Reilly, Nouvelle-Calédonie, 608, which records only the periodical publication).

Bradel case-binding in full green paper-covered boards, brown morocco lettering-piece lettered vertically; the original provisional upper wrapper preserved; modern binding.

The issue is illustrated at the end of the volume with an engraved plate.

A clear waterstain in the outer margins of the leaves.

Émile Bescherelle (1828–1903), president of the Société botanique de France, was a leading specialist in...

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...

First edition (cf. En français dans le texte, 288. Horblit, 11b. Printing and the mind of man, 353.)

Full black cloth binding, smooth spine, headcaps slightly softened, corners slightly frayed, contemporary binding,

Printed stamps on the title page and on the final page of the table of contents, which bears, on the facing page, a numerical annotation in black ink.

Very scarce first edition, issued in a small printing, of this offprint from the Annales des Sciences naturelles for September 1828 (cf. Engelmann I, 315).

This paper is preceded by "Extrait du rapport fait à l’Académie royale des sciences sur le mémoire présenté par MM. Audouin et Milne-Edwards, par MM. Cuvier et Duméril".

The CCF records only two copies, in Paris (Muséum) and Montpellier.

The author of several entomological papers published from 1821 onwards, Victor Audouin also took an interest in marine biology: in 1826, 1828 and 1829 he undertook, together with Henri Milne-Edwards, three field trips to Brittany and Normandy.

The present...

First edition, printed in a very small number of copies, of this offprint from the "Recueil industriel, Manufacturier (…) et des Beaux-Arts", published by M. de Moléon.

Our copy is preserved in its original state, in plain yellow wrappers, and housed in a modern green-paper chemise and slipcase with black morocco spine.

Jean-Pierre-Joseph d'Arcet (1777-1844), a chemist and the son of a chemist, was appointed Inspector-General of Assays at the Mint in 1807, examined the alloys used for the Vendôme Column in 1811, and installed the baths and fumigation apparatus at the Hôpital Saint-Louis. He devoted himself with particular zeal to research into public health and hygiene...

Exceptionally rare first edition of this study in applied mathematics, which had been the subject of a report presented to the Class of Physical Sciences and Mathematics of the Academy of Turin on 26 Ventôse, Year XIII. 

Our copy is preserved in its original wrappers, in provisional speckled green paper covers with a few small losses at the corners.

Some foxing.

Not in Quérard. Only two copies recorded in WorldCat.

Tommaso Valperga di Caluso (1737-1815), Piedmontese orientalist and mathematician, was one of the two signatories of this report.

First edition of the French translation (see Palau 246 379–80).

Spine restored, small losses at the corners of the boards.

An Italian-born naturalist and explorer, Antonio Raimondi (1826–1890) landed in Peru in 1850 and thereafter devoted himself to the study of his adopted country: through numerous expeditions, he gathered extensive data on the carbon strata of the Peruvian coastline, analysed and quantified the guano of the Chincha Islands and the potassium nitrate of Tarapacá, travelled through the gold-bearing provinces of Carabaya and Sandia, navigated the Río Marañón, the Ucayali and the Amazon — the principal eastern rivers — and drew plans of the cities of Cajamarca...

First edition, with only three copies recorded in the CCF (Institut, Nîmes and Besançon).

Copy from the library of the biologist Jean-Louis-Armand Quatrefages de Bréau (1810-1892), bearing his ink stamp at the head of the half-title.

An appealing copy despite a small tear at the foot of the spine.

First edition.

Not recorded by Vicaire or Bitting.

Contemporary-style half red shagreen binding, spine with five raised bands, very slightly sunned, marbled paper-covered boards, marbled endpapers, original wrappers and spine preserved, modern binding signed by Laurenchet.

Restored marginal tear to page 43 with a slight loss affecting a few letters of the text.

Signed autograph presentation inscription by Emile Mouchon on the half-title: "A la Société impériale d'agriculture de Lyon, hommage empressé".

First edition printed in a small number of copies of this offprint from "Voyages en Scandinavie, en Laponie et au Spitzberg de la corvette la Recherche", Physical Geography, vol. II, p. 279, the author having taken part in the expedition (1838-1840).

Our copy is preserved in its original wrappers, with plain green temporary covers.

Illustrated with 1 folding plate at the end of the volume.

Some light foxing and a few marginal tears to the right margins of certain leaves.

First edition of the French translation (cf. Blackmer 1752. Not in Weber or Atabey. See Barbier IV, 1083.)

Contemporary full marbled tan calf bindings, smooth spines gilt tooled in compartments with floral motifs, red morocco lettering-pieces, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt fillets to board edges.

Some restorations to a few joints and spines, minor scattered foxing.

Volume IV is entirely devoted to the author’s stay in the Greek islands: Crete, Candia, Damaste, Retimo, Mount Ida, Gortyn, the labyrinth of Crete, Milo, Syphante, Seriphos, Antiparos, Paros, Naxia, Stenofa, Amorgos, Skinosa, Delos, Rhenia, Syra, Cynthos, Zia, Macrounisa, Jura, Tenos, Scio...

First edition of this thesis submitted for the agrégation examination (surgery and obstetrics section) and defended at the Faculty of Medicine of Paris on 19 July 1872.

Illustrated with 21 figures in the text.

Wrappers partially soiled, occasional foxing.

Just Lucas-Championnière (1843-1913) spent almost his entire career in the obstetrics departments of Parisian hospitals and was a pioneer in the field of antisepsis. 

Signed autograph inscription from Just Lucas-Championnière to Paul Bert on the half-title page.

First edition.

Only three copies recorded in the CCF (BnF, Besançon and Strasbourg).

Minor spotting to the covers, a pleasant copy.

Andrés Poey y Aguirre (1826–1919) was the founder and director of the Physical and Meteorological Observatory of Havana.

At the head of the upper cover, autograph inscription from Andrés Poey to the chemist Edmond Becquerel (1820–1891).

A rare first edition unrecorded by Sabin.

Contemporary-style half bottle-green morocco-grained shagreen binding, spine slightly faded with five raised bands, marbled paper boards, endpapers and pastedowns of marbled paper, original front wrapper preserved, modern binding signed Laurenchet.

Scattered foxing, final page of the table of contents sunned.

New edition.

Contemporary full mottled tan calf binding, smooth spine decorated with gilt garlands and floral tools, black morocco lettering-piece, blind-tooled rolls to the spine ends, boards framed with a gilt fillet and palmette border, marbled endpapers, gilt fillets to the edges partly rubbed, marbled edges, one lower corner bumped, contemporary Restoration-period binding, 88 pp.

The first edition had been published in 1794; this reissue attests to the persistence of the epizootic outbreak in the Île-de-France region.

This work has been bound together with ten additional texts relating to epizootic diseases in the early nineteenth century:

I. CHABERT...