Rare and antique natural history books, biology sciences, zoology, mineralogy, geology antique discoveries

Second edition, after the first published in 1779, expanded by Rouland, and illustrated with 8 folding plates at the end, compared to 5 for the first edition.

Contemporary full marbled calf binding. Ornate spine with raised bands. Red morocco title label. Two corners bumped. Rubbing. One loss at head. Light foxing on the first leaves. Good copy.

Awakened to experimental physics as a student of Abbé Nollet, Sigaud de la Fond assisted the chemist Macquer in his experiments on gases and notably hydrogen, verifying that its combustion produced water. He relates in this work his experiments on different types of air, and summarizes the work of foreign...

Second edition statement, rare, published after the original of 1783, and illustrated with 9 plates in fine, of the aerostatic machine and the flying boat.

Bound in full limp vellum binding, reused. Smooth spine with author's name in pen and date at foot. Stains and soiling. Trace of dampstain to lower margin of frontispiece. Leaves browned at beginning of work, and several others scattered throughout bearing browning.

First and important work on aerostation. It brings together several memoirs relating the first balloon flights (On inflammable gas, Observations made by M. Jeaurat, On rubber, Accounts of the first flights at Annonay...

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...

Illustrated edition with 16 folding plates, 8 per volume.
Contemporary full marbled brown calf bindings. Raised band spines with gilt ornaments. Red morocco title-labels, and black wax volume labels. Small lack to head of volume I. One corner slightly bumped. Rubbing. Last errata leaf frayed at margin. Good copies.
Notable articles to be retained in each of the mentioned sections include the following: On beam resistance by M. Parent. On conchoids in general by M. de La Hire. Observations on coral analysis by M. Geoffroy. Reflections on magnetic variations by M. Houssaye. General method for finding an infinity of new curved lines by M. Réaumur. Physical explanation of the...

First edition of this treatise, published following the four volumes whose editorial dates run from 1782 for the first volume to 1788 for the last, namely the Traité de l'aimant, which is therefore often missing from the series.

Contemporary full red morocco binding. Spine with raised bands richly decorated. Title and volume labels in black morocco. Triple fillet frame on covers. Roulette on leading edges and board-edges. Gilt edges. Domino paper with gilt stars. Corners rubbed.

Very handsome copy, perfectly bound in a master binding, very fresh.

The Traité de l'aimant is the last work published...

The rare French first edition, illustrated with 9 folding plates containing 22 figures. The first edition, in Italian, dates from 1765. Two manuscript leaves in fine handwriting are bound at the rear on the properties of gunpowder, with a comparative table of tests for sulphur, saltpetre and charcoal.

Later binding, ca. 1830, in full glazed navy calf. Spine with raised bands handsomely decorated with central tool and corner tools in each compartment, roulette at head and foot, geometric roulette on bands, repeated as interior border. Green calf title-label. Framing border on boards. Edges gilt. Rubbing to boards, particularly the upper board, with scratches.

First French edition and the first translation into the vernacular, following the original Latin text published in the Elementa physiologica in eight volumes between 1757 and 1766. Copy with unidentified arms, bearing angular ermine spots on the covers. The Rohan or Rohan Chabot families affixed only the emblems or charges of their heraldry to their books, but we have been unable to identify a family behind the use of ermine spots, as these occur in too many coats of arms.

Contemporary full mottled calf bindings. Spines gilt in compartments with thistle tools. Red morocco title- and volume-labels, gilt-tooled. Gilt roll at foot. Triple gilt fillet border on covers with...

First edition, illustrated with 2 folding plates on strong paper. The separately paginated section, Précis de journaux, bears the date 1786 in its colophon.

Full marbled and glazed brown calf binding. Decorated raised spine. Red morocco title label. 2 corners slightly bumped. From page 96 to the end, pale yellow dampstains to margins and on the first pages of the separately paginated section, affecting the entire page, but without real consequence. Good copy.

This surprising memoir traces all the curative applications of electricity on man: rheumatism, deafness, toothache, ophthalmia, paralysis, epilepsy. Case descriptions and...

First collected edition of these two works, originally published at Oxford in 1701 (Physica) and 1718 (Astronomia) respectively, illustrated with a title vignette, 12 folding plates for physics (experiments, diagrams, geometry), 29 for astronomy, and 6 for trigonometry, numbered I to XLVII.

Contemporary marbled brown sheep binding. Spine with raised bands richly decorated. Red morocco title label. Worn binding. Headcaps torn away. Joints split at head and foot, along two compartments for the upper joint. Corners heavily bumped. Paper more or less browned.

Treatise and manual of astronomy and physics with various short treatises, including one...

New edition based on the first 1906 printing, with a false statement of edition (thirteenth thousand).
Rare and appealing copy.

First edition illustrated with two title vignettes designed by Picart.

19th-century black Bradel binding in full boards. Orange calf title labels. Small rubbing to headcap. Handsome copy.

A major work on generation and embryology, in which one discovers the hypothesis of chromosomes as well as that of environmental influence. Bonnet perfects his thesis according to which every being exists previously in germ form in nature, thus the embryo already exists in the seminal fluid, and generation is merely the simple development of the germ, which, from small, develops through nutrition; the germ already containing everything that will be developed. Although...

Second edition, rare, after the first of 1789.

Contemporary pamphlet, in pink paper. Title label. Spine cracked. Fine copy in condition as issued, uncut.

This treatise on volcanology concerning the volcanoes of Auvergne is important for the evolution of this science, still young at the time. The author studies precisely how volcanoes changed the landscape, cataloguing lava flows and their effects; tracing centuries of geology, when the sea bordered the volcanoes... Manuscript and bibliographic note in pencil at the bottom of the title page.

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...

New edition. The first volume of these Observations appeared in 1719, the second forming the sequel in 1725. In this edition, volume I is from 1730 and the second from 1737. It should be noted that it is extremely rare to find the two volumes together, especially in uniform binding.

Contemporary full sheep bindings. Raised band spines with ornaments. Beige morocco title labels and red morocco volume labels. Worn headcaps. Surface wear to boards. Despite the noted defects, a handsome copy, well bound.

Bougeant, famous Jesuit scholar, is the architect of this compilation which borrows articles from periodicals such as the Journal des...

First edition, translated from German by Baron d'Holbach, illustrated with a frontispiece and 15 folding copperplate engravings.

Contemporary full calf binding. Decorated spine with raised bands. Red morocco title label. Headcaps worn with visible endbands. Joint of lower board cracked at head over first two compartments. Surface wear with losses to upper board. Two corners slightly bumped. Title label renewed.

Compilation of several works on glassmaking assembled and translated by Baron d'Holbach (his preface presents the different authors), notably the important treatise by Neri (1612) who first published the method of making colored glass, crystal...

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...

New edition, after the first, rare, published in 1784.

In original wrappers. Title page with marginal dampstain and soiling.

Linguet (1736-1794) French writer, lawyer and journalist, he wrote numerous works in various fields, particularly law and political philosophy, his positions and his talents as a polemicist would lead to his imprisonment and eventual execution by guillotine. It was during a period of incarceration that Linguet conceived this work, the fruit of earlier research. Linguet bases himself essentially on Newton to develop his own reflections in the field.

First edition.

In original wrappers, covered with brown paper from the XX^th century.

A scientific mind of the Society of Jesus, Sarrabat obtained the gold medal from the academy of sciences in 1728 for his work on the origin of the salinity of the sea, which he attributed primarily to waters flowing into the sea.

First edition with "remise en vente" wrappers from Librairie Joseph Gibert. 
A good copy.
Rare.