Signed manuscripts by scholars, doctors, naturalists, signed scientific autographs

First edition of the French translation, illustrated with a plate showing the alphabet and a large folding map at the end of the first volume (cf. Quérard V, 561). Two modern bookplates pasted to the front pastedowns. 

Contemporary full marbled tan calf bindings, smooth spines decorated with gilt friezes (partly rubbed), blond morocco lettering-piece, lower headcap slightly damaged, some wear to joints and boards, old restorations on boards, a few bumped corners, gilt rolls on board edges, red edges.

Small ink stain and marginal tear on the map, otherwise a clean and appealing copy.

The most comprehensive work of its time devoted to the largest island of Indonesia.

New edition, partly original, expanded with a survey of Persia from the earliest times to the present day, together with annotations by the Orientalist and librarian Louis-Mathieu Langlès (cf. Quérard II, 133; Schwab p. 18; lacking in Blackmer and Atabey).

Contemporary full mottled calf, smooth spines gilt with decorative rolls and tools, black morocco-style shagreen lettering- and volume-pieces, gilt rolls on the caps (partly faded), gilt dentelle borders on the boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, marbled edges.

For the folio atlas: contemporary half calf in fawn, smooth spine gilt with rolls and tools, brown lettering-piece, spine with some rubbing and restorations, red morocco title-label on the upper board, marbled paper sides, marbled edges.

In the first text volume, pagination skips from pp. 235 to 256 without loss; pp. 213–220 are transposed; all the plates in the atlas, including portrait and map, have been renumbered in blue ink stencil from 1 to 65; some occasional foxing on the plates.

Our atlas volume contains 1 portrait, 1 folding map, and 83 views and figures on 63 plates (numbered [1] to 82, including one 81bis, with some numbering errors). Most figures are full-page; several plates include two or more subjects; nine plates are large folding plates.

A pleasing copy, attractively bound at the time, with the atlas in a different contemporary binding.

First and only edition. This copy is one of the rare examples complete with the 64 full-page plates. The work is also illustrated with a title vignette depicting the artist Ambroise-Louis Garneray in a small boat, sketching the entrance to the port of Brest.

Contemporary binding of half tan sheep with corners, smooth spine richly decorated in gilt and blind with multiple large typographic tools, discreet restorations to the joints, marbled-paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns.

A magnificent work on the ports of France, and one of the finest collections ever produced on the subject.

The author of these highly precise engravings joined the navy at the age of thirteen and thereby witnessed numerous naval battles. From 1806 he was imprisoned for eight years in Portsmouth, using his captivity to study drawing and painting and to record the scenes he had observed during his voyages. Upon his return from the United Kingdom, Garneray became painter to the Duke of Angoulême, then Grand Admiral of France, later serving as director of the Rouen museum, and entering the Sèvres manufactory where he executed numerous maritime subjects.

His work, of remarkable delicacy and realism, was praised by Melville in Moby-Dick: "Who Garneray the painter is, or was, I know not. But my life for it he was either practically conversant with his subject, or else marvellously tutored by some experienced whaleman. The French are the lads for painting action." 

Collection of documents formed of 33 original contemporary silver halide print photographs, a reproduction of a press clipping from La Voix du Nord and three mimeographed technical plans, united in a black binder with a label with the inscription «Production Report «press» – press-forming of the ½ spheres of Ct Cousteau's diving saucer – February 1964.» Handwritten title page.
Signed, handwritten presentation: «Avec les amitiés du reporter photographe Wallemme Raoul» «With love from the photojournalist Wallemme Raoul.»
Very beautiful and unique collection, testifying to the genius of the making of the Deep Star 4000, a diving saucer invented by Commander Cousteau.
The reproduction of the press clipping glued at the beginning of our collection explains: «The French Office for Underwater Research in Marseille will build, on behalf of an American firm, a diving saucer, the ‘S.P. 4000,' which can descend to a depth of 4000 metres. This machine, whose full-scale model has just been produced, must be completed in May 1964. It will be able to carry out its first trials the following month, before leaving for the United States where
it take the name ‘Deep Star.'»
In 1964, the French Office for Underwater Research, led by Commander Cousteau, entrusted the company Arbel de Douai with the work of forming the hemispheres in Vasco Jet 90 steel intended for the manufacture of the diving saucer «S.P. 4000.» The 33 photographs collected in this album of internal archives recount all the stages of this conception. We see the metalworkers at work, dressed in suits worthy of science-fiction; the last shot immortalised the team posing proudly in front of photojournalist Raoul Wallemme's camera.
It is the American company Westinghouse Corp who, under Cousteau's leadership and the French Office for Underwater Research, will manufacture the submersible. For certification purposes, the Vasco sphere manufactured by the Douai workshops will not be used by the American firm, who will prefer another model used by the US Navy. It will finally be used on another machine, the S.P. 3000 or Cyana. «In September 1971, a trial dive, luckily without crew, went wrong. Cyana, hanging on a cable and weighted with a heavy weight, is submersed off Sicily to a depth of 3 200m. A shackle opens, releasing the cable. The saucer remains unable to move, a few metres from the bottom. The sinking point is immediately marked by an ultrasonic beacon that can only beep for one month. A race against the clock begins: it is necessary to rearm the Archimède and urgently equip it with shears inspired by a charcutier's ham slicer! Fourteen days after the sinking, while the beacon still emits weakly, the Archimède finds the Cyana and cuts the cable that holds it prisoner. It was the deepest ever successful rescue!» (Ifremer website).
The Cyana carried out more than 1 300 dives from Ifremer's different oceanographic vessels (Jean Charcot, Le Suroît, Le Noroît, Nadir, L'Atalante) and opportunity vessels (Castor, Ravello).
Superb and unique testimony of French metalworking know-how at the service of Commander Cousteau and the pioneers of oceanography.

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

• Observations du thermomètre faites pendant les grands froids de Sibérie, par M. Delisle.
• Recherche de statique et de dynamique, par M. le Marquis de Courtivron.
• Expériences de l'electricité appliquées à des paralytiques, par Mrs Morand et Nollet.
• Mémoires sur l'électricité, contenant la description d'un électromètre par M. le chevalier d'Arcy.
• Observations sur les pernicieux effets d'une espèce de champignon, par M. Le Monnier.
• Expériences et observations faites en différents endroits de l'Italie, par M. Nollet.
• Réflexions sur le principe de moindre action de M. Maupertuis, par M. le chevalier d'Arcy.
• Mémoire sur la cause des mouvements du cerveau, par M. de la Mure.

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

Contemporary bindings in full marbled brown calf, spines with six raised bands decorated with red morocco title and volume labels, fleurons and double gilt frame fillets, triple fillets stamped in blind framing the boards, double gilt fillets on the leading edges, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, all edges marbled. Title pages in red and black. Headcaps worn, title labels of volumes 1, 3, 4 and 6 and volume labels of volumes 4, 5 and 6 missing, some lacks to the compartments, leather split at the joint of the first volume, joints of other volumes often slightly cracked at head or foot, boards and leading edges rubbed, some corners slightly bumped. Endpapers cut at outer margins, some bookworm damage to leaves mainly in lower margins, intermediate title pages of volume 5 and volume 2 detached but present.

Good copy.

New edition, illustrated with 14 plates, most folding.
Contemporary full brown marbled calf binding. Decorated spine with raised bands. Red morocco title label, and black wax volume label. 2 corners slightly bumped. Rubbing. Good copy.
Notable articles in each of the mentioned sections include: Experiments to determine if the strength of ropes exceeds the sum of the strengths of the threads composing these same ropes, by M. de Réaumur. Observations on the vegetation of truffles, by M. Geoffroy. Observations on fecal matter, by M. Homberg. Remarks on certain colors, by M. de La Hire. Rules and remarks for the construction of equalities, by M. Rolle. On different ways in which several species of sea animals attach themselves to sand, by M. de Réaumur. New experiments on the dilation of air, by M. Maraldi. Description of a new purple dye, by M. de Réaumur. Observations on the structure & use of the principal parts of flowers, by M. Geoffroy. Description of the flowers and seeds of various succulents, by M. de Réaumur. Various astronomical observations.