Natural Sciences

Second edition, illustrated with two musical plates (examples of tunes that can be taught to canaries) and one depicting cages.

Contemporary binding in full speckled brown sheep. Ornate spine with raised bands. Red morocco title label. Joints cracked at head and foot. Corners bumped and rubbed. Scuffing. Scattered foxing. Yellow dampstain on the first six leaves.

Treatise and manual on breeding Canary birds in captivity: feeding, nesting, care, prices, varieties... These aviary birds were particularly appreciated for their beauty, colors and song.

Copy in original wrappers without cream interim covers. Manuscript annotation on first endpaper.
Some marginal tears to endpapers which serve as covers.
Presumed author: Henri de Goyon de la Plombanie. In the journal des savans of 1752, article titled: Mémoire sur la manière d'élever les vers à soye.
The first part is a series of advice for successful silkworm breeding; the second consists of observations on the management of silkworms; the last relates a method for harvesting silkworm eggs. Following, a detailed table of the work's contents.
Rare.

First collected edition, bringing together Opuscules de physique animale et végétale and Expériences pour servir à l'histoire de la génération des animaux et des plantes; avec une ébauche de l'histoire des êtres organisés avant leur fécondation par Jean Sennebier. Translation by Jean Sennebier. The third volume: Expériences, etc, bears the imprint of Barthélémy Chirol in Geneva with the same date of 1787 (same imprint as for the original published in 1785). Edition illustrated with 9 folding plates at the end, 3 in the first volume and 6 in the third.

Contemporary full speckled calf bindings. Smooth spines decorated with several tools (wheat sheaf, stars) and Greek rolled borders. Red morocco title labels and green morocco volume labels (volume numbering at foot). Triple gilt fillet frame on boards. Extensive surface abrasions on boards. Slight defects to spines. Handsome copy, moreover perfectly fresh.

Collection of the most important works of this great biologist Spallanzani, remarkable not only for his hypotheses, but for his imagination in terms of experimental method. The opuscules contain the Expériences sur la digestion, which are not found in the original, in which Spallanzani demonstrates the importance of gastric juices in the digestive process. He will also demonstrate that the theory of spontaneous generation is false, discovers the secret of fertilization between a spermatozoid and an ovum, that of regeneration in certain animals; he will perform the first artificial insemination on a female dog. We thus owe him numerous advances in the sciences, whose effects would not be felt until much later, but above all he marks his era through his scientific rigor and demonstration protocols that reveal an inventiveness and clairvoyance that seem inexhaustible.

19th-century armorial bookplate of Dampierre

Contemporary spotted sheep, spine with four tools and roulettes to head and foot, red morocco title- and black morocco volume- labels, roulette frame to covers. Spines uniformly and slightly faded, lack to first blind-ruled compartment of spine of volume one. A good copy.

The work, in the form of an alphabetical dictionary, provides an overview of contemporary knowledge of natural history (mineralogy, botany, zoology, entomology, astronomy, and so on). Each article includes a curious or remarkable aspect of its subject (medical uses, strange properties, characteristics, etc). Several useful tables at end. Handsome.

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

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

Fundamental work on the theory of generation. The conclusions reached by Spallanzani precede those of Pasteur by nearly a century. He notably refutes the theory of spontaneous generation; it is while working on the refutation of this famous concept that Spallanzani discovers the role of spermatozoa and ovaries in mammals, through his observations on external reproduction in frogs; he will moreover be the first to perform artificial insemination in a female dog. The author also demonstrates regeneration in lizards. Senebier translated most of Spallanzani's works into French; he was also a scientist.

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

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

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

First edition, rare.

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

First edition. Rare.

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

Swedish entomologist and military officer who studied under Linnaeus. The Insects of Sweden (Insecta suecica) forms his most important contribution to the discipline; his insect collection was very extensive.

Volumes 1 and 4 each contain, bound at rear, manuscript notes and annotations covering 5½ pages, in a fine and close hand, certainly by the first owner of the work: A. Godart whose name appears at the foot of each volume.

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

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

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

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.