Medicine

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

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

Without doubt Bonnet's most ambitious and remarkable study which earned him the designation of father of modern biology. This work of theoretical biology drawing its source from multi-disciplinary reflection and its postulate from Leibniz (the immortality of the soul) claims that the Earth periodically suffers universal catastrophes which destroy almost all life and that the survivors each time rise one degree on the evolutionary scale. Bonnet was the first to use the term evolution in a biological context. The work also prefigures experimental psychology. There would exist in each being germs which pre-exist it and ensure the survival of the species, Bonnet's thesis announcing the theories and discoveries of genes. It was blindness that in Bonnet put a stop to experimentation and engaged him on the path of philosophical reflection.

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

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

Important study devoted to the phenomena of generation, fertilization and embryology, with a description of sexual organs and their function. By establishing a state of contemporary knowledge, Haller refutes certain previously established theses, notably that of Malpighi, and establishes new ones, clarifying the way in which new individuals come into the world.

New edition for the first three volumes, which appeared respectively in 1742 and 1743; volumes 4 and 5 appear here for the first time in 1765 and 1773. Title pages in red and black.
Contemporary blonde calf, marbled and glazed. Spine with raised bands, decorated. Red morocco title label. Headcaps of volumes 1 and 2 worn; headcaps of volumes 3, 4 and 5 frayed; tailcaps of volumes 2 and 5 worn. 4 corners bumped across the set. A handsome set overall.
Hermann Boerhaave is one of the great figures of modern medicine, founder of clinical medicine, who published in 1709 his most famous book which contributed to his fame throughout Europe: the Aphorisms, a sort of fundamental manual in the knowledge of diseases and their treatments. Van Swieten was one of Boerhaave's pupils and disciples whose lectures attracted audiences from all over Europe. He worked for ten years on the Aphorisms; his interpretation contributed particularly to filling the entire 18th century with Boerhaave's name.

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

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

This is the first scientific monograph on the structure of the ear and its illnesses, and is therefore very significant. It played a determining role in the understanding of this organ, whose study had been until then much neglected. Stamp of Doctor Maurice Petit of Montereau.

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

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

The work forms an unquestionable reference compendium for medicine and chemistry (applied to medicine) in the 18th century. The German physician and physicist Friedrich Hoffmann (1660-1742) was professor of medicine and physics at the University of Halle, he was also an important practitioner and played a significant role in the development of modern medical chemistry.

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

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

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

Auger Ferrier (1513-1588) of Toulouse was simultaneously a renowned astronomer, physician and physicist (he was one of Catherine de Medici's private physicians). The work is a treatise on the Spanish plague or Spanish pox, otherwise called the Neapolitan disease, which is none other than syphilis and which had been wreaking havoc in France for some time (depending on the country it was also called the French disease). Description of the illness and remedies. There follows a chapter intended for barbers and the remedies they could employ not being physicians (falling nails, alopecia); this treatise is followed by its translation, as barbers were not learned and did not speak Latin, yet they often practiced various surgical operations.

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

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

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

Thomas Syndenham (1624-1689) was an English physicist and physician, famous for introducing opium, laudanum and morphine into medicine as painkillers and analgesics against pain. The two books by Blaes and Syndenham are medical treatises containing various observations, with the section on monsters appearing after the observations.