Rare and antique physics books, chemistry & scientific experiments, alchemy treatises, optics, Newton, experimental physics

First edition, one of 11 numbered copies on Hollande paper, constituting the deluxe issue.

A rare and attractive copy.

Three works bound in one volume, comprising one first French translation and two first editions.

Half fawn calf, paste-paper boards, green corners, smooth spine decorated with six gilt bands and three blind-stamped tools, two titles stamped on the spine (that of the Mémoire sur l'université is not present), speckled edges. Some rubbing and soiling to the binding, light foxing.

A curious gathering of two scientific texts, one devoted to the telegraph and the other to optical instruments, together with a polemical pamphlet by the founder of the Collège Stanislas.

First edition, one of only 11 numbered copies on Hollande paper, constituting the deluxe issue.

A rare and attractive copy, illustrated with two drawings by Jean de La Varende, engraved on wood by H. Cols.

First edition illustrated with 8 folding plates.

Half vellum binding, smooth spine with gilt initials at foot, black shagreen title label, red morocco label bearing the year of issue, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, sprinkled edges, original wrappers preserved, contemporary binding.

Rare Saigon printing. This uncommon directory was published under this title until 1888; in 1889, it became the Annuaire de l'Indo-Chine française.

Rare first edition of this lecture delivered at the Cercle de France in Paris on January 8, 1958, no copy referenced in Worldcat. Light foxing to the front board.

Rare utopian pamphlet celebrating the creation of Brasilia and laying the theoretical foundations for the cities of the future. Inscribed and signed by Robert Miocque to his friend Marcel Dollfus at the top of the first page of text.

First edition, taken from the Mémoires de la Société royale et centrale d'agriculture, for the year 1824.

Illustrated with a folding plate inserted out of text.

Our copy is preserved in its original state, sewn and issued in a plain blue provisional wrapper.

Scattered light foxing.

A grandson of the founder and first director of the Académie royale de marine, Pierre-Marie-Sébastien Bigot de Morogues (1776-1840) devoted himself principally to agricultural matters.

Rare first edition.

Only two copies recorded in the CCF (BnF and Marseille).

“…their change of residence, abandoning the old city to settle in the new districts? A memoir awarded by the Société académique de médecine de Marseille at its public session of 1 August 1819; (…). Enlarged with the plan of a medical topography of the city of Marseille, which the author proposes to publish.” Marseille, Joseph-François Achard, 1819, 8vo, disbound. Title, 40 pp. Only two copies recorded in the CCF (BnF and Marseille). Very rare. The author was a physician attached to the dispensaries and the maternity hospital of Marseille.

First edition of the French translation prepared by F. Soulès of "An account on the present state of Nova Scotia", originally published in 1786.

Our copy is offered unbound.

Pages 31 to 39 are devoted to fishing practices.

No publisher, no place, no date [1885–1890]. Quarto (32.5 × 23 cm), 1 blank leaf and 49 unnumbered leaves. Contemporary half red percaline over corners, smooth spine covered in red shagreen, pebble-grain paper-covered boards, blue paper endpapers.

An exceptional collection of 49 original unsigned watercolours, each measuring approximately 20 × 15 cm within the margins, finely executed in Indian ink and watercolour with gouache highlights, mounted on guards. Several leaves bear the watermark "Latune et Cie Blacons", that of a paper mill in the Drôme region active throughout the final third of the nineteenth century. Rubbing to the spine, a few marginal...

Very rare first edition illustrated with 14 plates, three of which are in colour, issued as a supplement to the "Guide pratique de la fabrication de la bière" and the "Guide raisonné de la fabrication de la bière" published in 1867 and 1868.

Not in Vicaire or Bitting. Oberlé, Fastes, 1125, does not record this supplement.

Spine restored with minor losses, small marginal defects to the boards, and a stain along the right margin of the upper cover.

The author was a hop dealer and purveyor of brewery equipment in Strasbourg and in Gray (Haute-Saône).

This volume reflects the advances achieved by the brewing industry, particularly in northern France and in...

Rare first edition.

Our copy is issued in its original state, unbound and preserved in wrappers.

Not recorded by Oberlé. Only two copies located in the CCFr (Cherbourg and Montpellier).

Alexandre Lesdos (1813-1865) was a member of the Société d'Agriculture and of the Société Académique de Cherbourg.

In this work, he devotes an entire chapter to the wines of Saint-Émilion, noted for their "bouquet as delicate as that of the violet." (our own translation)

Complete first edition, in eleven bound volumes (ten text volumes and one atlas) of Auguste Pavie’s monumental work on former French Indochina, enriched with an autograph inscription signed by the author and accompanied by the large map of the Mission.

Published in Paris by Ernest Leroux, with the assistance of Augustin Challamel for the Atlas, between 1898 and 1919, the work appeared under the auspices of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, the Colonies, Public Instruction, and Fine Arts.

The set comprises the section Géographie et voyages, volumes I to VII, published between 1901 and 1919, illustrated with 52 maps and portraits hors texte...

First edition of this paean to intoxication, adorned with a charming engraved frontispiece depicting Bacchus seated on a barrel, holding a wine cup in one hand and a bunch of grapes in the other.

Cf. Vicaire 326. Bitting 415. Barbier II, 75 d. Oberlé, Une bibliothèque bachique, 523 (for the 1798 ed.).

Bound in contemporary fawn half-calf with corners, spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt fillets, marbled paper boards, corners slightly worn, edges speckled red.

This work abounds with anecdotes and quotations drawn from the history of many lands. It asserts "that wine gives wit," offers "a catalogue of some illustrious drinkers," and claims "that...

Third edition.

Our copy is preserved in its original state, issued in temporary blue paper wrappers, with some losses to the corners and a mounted title label on the spine.

Some light foxing.

Pierre-Auguste Mutel (1795–1847) entered the École Polytechnique in 1813, graduating 34th in the class of 1815, and went on to serve in the artillery corps.

Manuscript ex-libris of Becquerel, dated 24 October 1833; it is difficult to determine which member of this illustrious family should be associated with this provenance.

First edition and the inaugural volumes of this significant scientific periodical, whose publication continued until 1954.

Volumes 43, 4, 5, and 6 are illustrated with respectively 332 in-text figures, 392 figures, 138 in-text figures, and 179 in-text figures.

Contemporary half-sheep bindings in brown, smooth spines decorated with gilt fillets and garlands, spines rubbed, red lettering and volume labels with a few minor losses on some volumes, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, sprinkled edges, some volumes slightly rubbed at the extremities, the upper corner of the fourth volume lacking, a few snags to the board edges; period bindings.

The first...

First edition (cf. Not in Quérard or Musset-Pathay. Oberlé 101-02.).

Including, with the appended pieces (cf. infra), the account of the thirteen experiments conducted by Maupin between 1772 and 1777 on the handling of wines.

Bound at the end:

• 1. Suite de la cinquième expérience, contenant la seconde lettre de M. de la Galaisière & celle que M. Bertin m'a fait l'honneur de m'écrire à son occasion. S.l.n.d., 2 ll. unnumbered.
• 2. Suite des expériences de la nouvelle manipulation des vins. Seconde partie. S.l.n.d. [Paris, April 1781], 30 pp., with an unnumbered leaf of receipt.

Bradel-style binding in half bottle-green long-grain...

First edition of this pamphlet devoted to the largest marshland in Italy, the Fucecchio wetlands.

Illustrated with a double-page engraved plate.

Disbound copy.

From the library of the economist, agronomist, industrialist, and lithographer Charles-Philibert de Lasteyrie du Saillant (1759–1849), with his ownership stamp on the title-page.

First edition of the French translation and notes prepared by Billecocq (cf. Sabin, 41879; Leclerc, 943; Field, 947; Howes, 443; Staton-Trenlaine, Bibliogr. of Canadiana, 597 for the original edition).

Half mottled calf, smooth spine decorated with gilt tools, brown shagreen title-piece, marbled paper boards slightly darkened and faded at the edges, red edges; modern binding.

Stamp on the half-title, a light marginal dampstain affecting the outer margins of the final leaves.

Illustrated with a folding copper-engraved map by P. F. Tardieu, “Des pays situés à l'ouest du Canada”.

“The interest of the work lies in the detailed and relatively objective...

First edition, illustrated with seven folding plates.

Preserved in its original state, sewn and issued in plain blue paper wrappers with an added inner lining.

This volume gathers eight short papers previously published in the annual reports of the Kew Observatory.

Francis Ronalds (1788–1873), a largely self-taught engineer, became in 1843 the director and superintendent of the Kew meteorological observatory.

His work included, among other tasks, the development of a system for recording meteorological data.

On the front flyleaf, autograph presentation from Francis Ronalds to a member of the Becquerel family, most likely Antoine-César (1788–1878)...

First edition of this concise treatise on rural economy, attributed to the Duke of Sully, the famed minister of Henri IV, born at Rosny and who bore the name of that estate.

His well-known commitment to the development of agriculture has passed into national lore. However, it cannot be excluded that another author, sharing the same territorial designation, may be responsible for the text.

Contemporary full mottled fawn sheep, spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt compartments and gilt tools, gilt fillets, Havana morocco lettering-piece, gilt rolls to the headcaps, gilt fillets to board edges, red sprinkled edges.

Some repairs to the binding. Manuscript...

First edition of these observations and proposals for reform of the French Navy, published anonymously in 1802 and traditionally attributed to Pierre-Alexandre-Laurent Forfait, former Minister of the Navy and Colonies, who had left office only a few months earlier.

Contemporary full tree calf, smooth spine decorated with gilt false bands and ornamental tools, red shagreen lettering-piece, covers bordered with fine gilt rolls, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, all edges gilt. Joints slightly rubbed, some surface wear and losses of leather at the foot of the boards, corners worn.

...

This work is in fact the reissue of the original edition, published under a new title: the 1772 edition was entitled "Dissertation sur les vins".

One hundred blank leaves have been bound at the end of the text.

The work saw an expanded edition in 1782, which was subsequently reprinted. (Cf. Simon BG: 510. Not recorded by Vicaire, Oberlé, or Bitting. Lacking from the Kilian Fritsch Collection.)

Contemporary half mottled tawny sheep with vellum-tipped corners, the spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt compartments, marbled paper sides, red edges.

An important treatise on vinification by a former wine merchant’s employee who had worked in France...

Extremely scarce Toulon printing, illustrated with in-text figures and tables.

Only one copy recorded in the CCF (BnF).

Contemporary half brown sheep, the faded smooth spine gilt with fillets, garlands and floral tools, marbled paper boards slightly sunned at the head-margins, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, marbled edges.

A tear without loss to the foot of the half-title.

A professor at Franeker and later at Amsterdam, Jan Hendrik van Swinden (1746–1823) was the most renowned Dutch physicist of the eighteenth century.

First issue of the fifty large hors-texte lithographs drawn from life by Henry John Terry (cf. Vicaire, VII, 1164).

Publisher’s binding in full red cloth, smooth spine decorated with blind-ruled compartments and fillets, light rubbing to the head- and tailcaps, gilt-lettered title on the front board, yellow endpapers, trace of a removed bookplate on one pastedown, one lower corner softened, slight discoloration to the lower left corner of the rear board, occasional marginal foxing, a small loss to the foot of page 119, and minor wormholes at the foot of the last three leaves, not affecting the text.

The fifty striking black lithographs depict the most...

First edition of each volume.

The first work lacks its map, while the second retains it.

Full marbled blond calf binding, smooth spines decorated with gilt floral and scroll motifs, red calf title labels, gilt fillet borders on the covers, gilt roll tooling along the edges, cat’s-eye endpapers and pastedowns, green edges, contemporary binding.

Restorations to the spines, joints fragile, repairs to the title leaves, handwritten notes at the head of the first page of text in each volume.

First edition of this paper on cassava and the cultivation of peanuts, read before the General Assembly of the Royal Aragonese Society on 22 August 1800.

Our copy is preserved in modern plain beige wrappers, with a few insignificant spots of foxing.

From the library of the comte de Lasteyrie du Saillant, the renowned agronomist, with his red printed stamp on the title-page.

Second edition, illustrated with 15 engraved plates hors texte, of this first part devoted to the cattle breeds of the Oderbruch, Oldenburg and Frisia-Anspach (cf. Kayser, Bücher-Lexicon, VI, 265). Thirteen plates were finely hand-coloured at the time, several of them showing the animals against handsome mountain landscapes; one of the two uncoloured plates depicts chalet utensils used in cheese-making. The French text is printed on the verso of the German text.

A very rare complete suite, preserved with its original upper wrapper, housed in a modern black box with smooth spine, red morocco lettering-piece to the spine and a large red morocco title-label to the...

First edition of this second fascicle, printed in Pondicherry by the Rattinamodeliar Press.

Losses to the cracked backstrip and along the board edges, with a few minor spots.

CCFr records copies only at the BnF (the sole institution to hold a complete run), the Collège de France, and Sainte-Geneviève.

The second of the five fascicles of this exceedingly rare botanical publication: they are devoted respectively to Lawsonia alba [or inermis = henna] and to Aristolochia Indica (Indian birthwort).

First edition of the inaugural instalment printed in Pondicherry at the Rattinamodeliar Press.

Losses to the spine and, more lightly, to the board corners; internally a clean and appealing copy.

Recorded in the CCF with copies only at the BnF (the sole institution holding a complete set), the Collège de France, and Sainte-Geneviève.

The first of five parts of this exceedingly scarce botanical publication, devoted entirely to Lawsonia alba [or inermis = henna].

Very rare first edition, illustrated in each volume with a copper-engraved frontispiece by Tardieu after Monnet.

Half black grained cloth bindings, smooth spines decorated with blind fillets, marbled paper boards with light rubbing, sprinkled edges, modest late 19th-century bindings.

Some foxing and a few pale waterstains at the end of the second volume.

This work is an essay whose concerns are strikingly close to our own, though expressed in a very different context.

A founder of French ecological thought, the civil engineer François-Antoine Rauch (1762–1837) demonstrated the direct relationship between deforestation and the increase in extreme weather, calling...

First edition of this splendid lithographed album by A. Bayot, Eugène Cicéri, and Morel Fatio, comprising a lithographed title on a tinted background, a line-engraved map by Avril, and 15 color lithographs on tinted grounds.

Contemporary black half shagreen binding with corners, spine with five raised bands and blind-stamped double fillets, cherry-red shagreen title label (with minor losses) mounted on the upper cover, black paper-covered boards, white moiré silk endpapers and pastedowns, endpapers slightly foxed and creased, all edges gilt, the binding recently restored.

Scattered foxing, a few faint marginal dampstains, one stain at the head of the final plate.

...

First edition of this study in political economy.

Three copies listed in OCLC, all in the United States. BMC records only the second edition (London, 1809).

"Sur quelle base reposent les gouvernements, les lois, les peuples, les autorités, les souverainetés, les partages, les propriétés, les distinctions, les inégalités : voilà le problème important dont on s'occupera dans cet ouvrage."

Some small losses of paper to the spines and corners, rear cover of the first volume soiled, a pleasant, clean interior.

Rare copy preserved in its original grey wrappers.

Rare first bilingual edition of the cahier of grievances of the Third Estate of Corsica, printed in Bastia in 1789 by Étienne Batini, “Printer to the King and to the General Assembly of the Three Orders”. One quarto volume of 75 pages on laid paper. The French text, printed in roman type, faces its Italian translation in italic under the title Quaderno delle doglianze, dimande, e rappresentazioni dell’Ordine del Terzo Stato dell’Isola di Corsica. The title-page bears a vignette of the arms of Corsica, a Moor’s head surmounted by a royal crown and supported by two winged genii; an ornamental initial...

Rare first edition of this complete set gathering the three parts of this practical Cantonese manual, accompanied by one of the instructional booklets intended for the Chinese teacher.

The first two volumes are each illustrated with eight plates of ideograms printed hors texte. No copies recorded in the CCFr.

The third volume shows staining at the foot of the spine, a few small spots of foxing, and minor marginal tears with slight losses to the boards of the first volume.

A very uncommon set.

Second edition.

"Magendie, pioneer experimental physiologist, regarded pathology as only a modification of physiology, 'medicine the physiology of the sick man'. By him clinical medicine was reconstructed on the physiological lines".

Spines of the first two volumes split, small losses to the other two, spines browned, some foxing.

Rare copy preserved in wrappers as issued.

First edition illustrated with two etched plates under tissue guards.

Claude Bernard’s (1813–1878) laboratory notes on alcoholic fermentation (see pp. 3–33) record his experiments on the search for yeast germs on grape clusters, the formation of alcohol in grape juice without ferment, on sound and rotten grapes, on the search for a soluble alcoholic ferment and the influence of decay, and on the production of alcohol. All these experiments were conducted on his estate at Saint-Julien in October 1877, during the grape harvest.

This conception of a soluble ferment as the origin of yeast, a living organism, marked the starting point of the famous controversy between Pasteur and...

Fourth edition, partly original, revised and considerably enlarged from these lectures given at the Paris School of Pharmacy. The work is illustrated with 600 figures within the text. 

Slight losses or small corner tears to the spines and boards, minor scattered foxing.

A pleasant copy.

First edition of the first of Augustin Sageret’s (1763–1851) two memoirs on cucurbits. Sageret was a pioneer in plant hybridization, particularly through his experiments with melons.

Only two copies of this edition are recorded in the CCF (Muséum and Lyon). Extracted from the Mémoires de la Société royale et centrale d’agriculture, year 1825. Pritzel 7969. Oberlé, Fastes, 708.

Half green long-grain morocco binding, spine faded and slightly darkened, decorated with gilt and black double fillets and blind-stamped floral tools, gilt rolls at head and tail, gilt date at foot, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers, marbled edges, modern binding.

Some foxing...

First edition, illustrated with four plates, including a folding world map (cf. Sinkankas 3466; Agassiz III, 370).

Full fawn calf, spine with five slender raised bands, gilt-tooled compartments with occasionally softened floral tools, rubbed gilt headcaps, brown morocco lettering-piece, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt dentelle framing the pastedowns, gilt fillets to board edges, marbled edges, contemporary binding.

Repairs to the spine, one joint split at head and foot, browning along the board margins with surface scratches, scattered foxing, a waterstain at the head of all leaves.

A noteworthy treatise devoted to yellow amber and above all to ambergris, the...

First edition of this offprint of great rarity.

Not listed in Musset-Pathay. Only two copies recorded in the Catalogue Collectif de France (Institut and Orléans).

Our copy is presented in a modern temporary wrapper made to resemble old paper.

Wine and cherry brandy, homemade kirschen-vasser, gin, juniper wine, poor man’s wine, currant wine, raisin and other dried fruit wines, etc.

First edition, illustrated with in-text vignettes (cf. Vicaire 733; Bitting 391; Cagle 273; NUC: only 2 copies listed. Not in Oberlé, "Fastes").

At the CCF, copies only at the BnF and Sainte-Geneviève.

Contemporary half green sheep binding, spine darkened and faded, decorated with triple blind fillets, marbled paper boards, endpapers and pastedowns, speckled edges.

"Une des particularités de ce traité culinaire, c'est qu'il est 'dédié à la Sainte Vierge, mère de Dieu'" [Vicaire].

Another distinctive feature is that the work, divided into 1,187 paragraphs, exemplifies a scientific method and clarity worthy of a publication by Baillière.

Second illustrated edition, with five plates, including one hand-coloured, one partly coloured, and one aquatint (cf. Sinkankas 4286; Borba de Moraes 542; not in Sabin).

Half beige sheep binding, smooth spine with some rubbing, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns; modern binding signed Houdart.

Some light foxing; numerical notes in the upper right corner of the half-title.

An interesting work, largely devoted to the diamonds of Brazil.

First published in 1813 and reprinted in 1815, this edition—despite the statement on the title page—would thus be the third rather than the second (cf. Borba de Moraes). “Largely concerns Brazilian diamonds and...

First edition illustrated with a folding map at the end of the volume (cf. Nipponalia, I, 2061; Innocencio, IX, 208; lacking from Cordier Japonica, Hill and Palau).

Only two copies recorded in the CCFr (Sorbonne and BULAC).

Rare edition of this account of one of the earliest European voyages undertaken to establish commercial relations with Japan, following the success of the American Commodore Perry in 1853.

Spine cracked with loss at foot, traces of adhesive paper at the head and tail of the endpapers, modern bookplate pasted on the verso of the front cover.

First edition of the first of Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire’s essays on “Philosophie anatomique.”

Illustrated with 10 folding plates drawn by Huet and engraved by Plée père, containing 116 figures (cf. Agassiz III, p. 29, no. 51; British Museum (Natural History) II, p. 656; Engelmann I, p. 263; Quérard III, 320; DSB V, 355-358; Cahn (Th.), La vie et l’œuvre d’Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, pp. 81-112).

Bradel binding in full marbled paper boards, smooth spine with black morocco title label, modern binding signed by Thomas Boichot.

Some foxing to the plates.

Based on a meticulous examination of the various anatomical structures of the respiratory organs...

First edition of this important work on cryptogams, illustrated with 36 hand-coloured plates (cf. Pritzel 3345).

Contemporary half calf with vellum corners, flat spine decorated with gilt floral rolls, partly rubbed, joints worn, lower cap trimmed with a small loss, black morocco title label, blue paper-covered boards.

Endpapers soiled, a few small spots of foxing.

Justin Girod-Chantrans, writer and naturalist [Besançon, 1750–1841], was one of the founders of the Société d’Agriculture du Doubs.

He was elected a member of the legislative body in 1802 (cf. Hoefer).

First edition of the thesis presented by Paul Bert to the Faculty of Sciences in Paris in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Natural Sciences.

Illustrated with two lithographed plates at the end of the volume.

Some occasional foxing.

Contemporary half red morocco-grained shagreen binding, smooth spine decorated with gilt floral tools, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, original wrappers preserved (rear cover restored with an adhesive patch), modern binding.

Rare biological thesis by Paul Bert (1833–1886), who was a physician, physiologist, educator, and above all a committed republican politician.

Inscribed...

First edition illustrated with in-text figures.

Spine split, small losses to the spine and boards, otherwise a clean and pleasant copy internally.

One of Pasteur’s principal collaborators, Charles Chamberland (1851–1908) served as deputy director of Pasteur’s laboratory on rue d’Ulm from 1879 to 1888.

Rare first edition of the French translation, illustrated with 12 double-page plates mounted on guards. (Not in Ferguson.)

Contemporary soft pink paper boards, spine renewed, with a small stain and some paper losses to the covers.

Johann Bartholomäus Trommsdorff (1770–1837), a disciple of Buchholz, was professor of chemistry and physics at Erfurt, but is generally regarded in Germany as a pharmacist. Throughout his career, he sought to establish pharmacology on the foundations of pure chemistry. The translator, Philippe-Xavier Leschevin de Précour (1771–1814), a brilliant young chemist, died prematurely while serving as chief commissioner of powders and saltpetre in...

First edition illustrated with a copper-engraved plate (showing some dampstains) from the second part of this brief communication, which served as an invitation to the public meeting of the Imperial Society of Naturalists of Moscow.

According to the CCF, only the Natural History Museum holds all three parts, published respectively in 1809, 1810, and 1811.

Very rare copy preserved in its original stitched wrappers with the printed pink cover.

Covers slightly discoloured and foxed at the margins, two dampstains affecting the lower edge throughout. Manuscript notes at the head of the front wrapper identifying the author and title.

The Saxon naturalist Fischer von...

Paris, Pierre David, 1651. Small octavo. Four works bound in one volume.

Second edition of Divers traictez, à sçavoir, de la nature des bains de Bourbon, & des abus qui se commettent à présent en la boisson de ces eaux, avec une instruction pour s'en servir utilement. De la Macreuse. De la Poudre de sympathie, first published by the same bookseller in 1650. The work opens with a dedication to Messire Baltazar du Mont, knight and Baron of Neufuy Saint-Sépulcre, with an engraved headpiece bearing fleur-de-lis arms. 4 unnumbered leaves, 148 and 56 pages, 2 unnumbered leaves.

First edition illustrated with three folding plates.

Half vellum binding, smooth spine, gilt initials at foot, black sheep title label with some rubbing, red sheep year label, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, restored original wrappers preserved, contemporary binding.

Rare Saigon printing. This uncommon directory was published under this title until 1888; in 1889 it became the Annuaire de l'Indo-Chine française.

Saigon, Imprimerie coloniale, followed by Imprimerie Rey, Curiol & Cie, Imprimerie commerciale Rey, Ménard & Legros, L. Ménard and F.-H. Schneider, 1886-1911. Twenty-seven separately issued reports bound in six quarto volumes, covering the years 1884-1910.

A rare complete annual run for the twenty-seven years from 1884 to 1910 of the Situation commerciale issued by the Saigon Chamber of Commerce, one of the principal printed statistical sources for the study of the colonial economy of...

Rare first edition (cf. Carrère 667).

Modern binding in half mottled calf with small sand-colored corners, spine with four raised bands decorated with double gilt fillets, brown morocco title label, marbled paper boards, yellow endpapers and pastedowns, red edges.

One of the earliest impressions from Remiremont; cited by Deschamps, col. 1102.

Very rare first French edition of this translation, illustrated with a folding plate.

Full mottled tan calf binding, spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt fleurons and typographic motifs, red morocco title label, gilt rolls at the head and tail, gilt fillet along the edges, lightly rubbed corners, marbled edges, contemporary binding.

A pleasant copy.

The only French translation of the Libellus, quo demonstratur : Colchici autumnalis radicem non solum tuto posse exhiberi hominibus, sed et ejus usu interno curari quandoque morbos difficillimos, qui aliis remediis non cedunt (Vienna, Trattner, 1763), which was also issued in an English version.

An...

First edition.

Our copy is preserved in its original wrappers, under a provisional violet paper cover.

A vertical crease runs through the entirety of the booklet.

Inscribed and signed by Lambert-Adolphe Quetelet to Edmond Becquerel at the head of the title page.

A naturalist, mathematician, and astronomer, Lambert-Adolphe Quetelet (1796–1874) was the founder of the Brussels Observatory.

First edition illustrated with 11 plates, 10 of which are folding.

Bradel binding in full marbled paper boards, smooth spine, vertical paper title label.

"Ce sont les tables des hauteurs du soleil à toutes les heures" [Lalande]. A rare and appealing copy.

Head of the collection of this technical periodical, which appeared for only three years (1839, 1840, and 1841); this set comprises all the issues published from January 1839 to December 1840.

Half lavallière calf bindings with corners, smooth spines lightened and decorated with gilt and blind fillets, red calf title labels, green volume labels, some rubbing to the spines, marbled paper boards, marbled edges, contemporary bindings.

Some occasional foxing.

The first volume is illustrated with in-text figures and 3 plates out of text; the second contains in-text figures.

The articles abound in practical details on the state of science and technology during the July...

First edition. Quérard I, 271 lists only one edition: "Paris, Née de La Rochelle, 1789." Kress B.1163; Goldsmiths 13858. Not in Einaudi."

With loose printed title pages for each volume, dated 1789.

The first volume, with an engraved pictorial title after Meunier, contains 52 double-page or folding plates inserted into the pagination, without following its numbering logic.

The second volume has an engraved pictorial title by Zaveris after Meunier and includes 154 etched plates of coins.

Full mottled calf, spines with six raised bands, gilt fillets and double gilt panels, red morocco lettering-pieces, green morocco numbering-pieces, gilt rolls on...

Rare first edition of three scientific reports from the zoological exploration mission of Guy-René Babault (1883-1963), corresponding member of the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle, carried out in present-day Kenya and Uganda in 1913. 

The set comprises: Volume 1: Insectes coléoptères. Cicindelidae, by Guy Babault. – Volume 2: Insectes coléoptères. Fam. Carabidae. Subf. Anthiinae, by G. Bénard. – Volume 3: Étude d'une collection d'oiseaux de l'Afrique orientale anglaise et de l'Ouganda, by A. Menegaux, with field notes by Guy Babault. 

The first volume includes illustrations in the text and one hand-colored entomological plate with tissue guard and facing leaf of...

First edition of this important work, cf. Krivatsy 588. Garrison-Morton 1673, 5047 and 5085.

Full stiff ivory vellum, spine with four raised bands, the author’s name handwritten in black ink, one defect on the fourth band, blind-tooled rolls on the headcaps, gilt fillets highlighting the raised bands and framing the covers, small vellum losses on the covers, losses at the corners of the first and last endpaper, edges sprinkled red, contemporary binding.

Bound with this work are three further treatises by Guillaume de Baillou, all printed by Quesnel in 1640. Krivatsy, describing a...

First edition in book form; the rare original edition was issued in parts between 1845 and 1856 (Brunet, I, 1707. Garrison and Morton reference three works by Cazenave on skin diseases).

Illustrated with 60 large and striking hand-colored plates.

Contemporary half red shagreen binding, spine with five raised bands adorned with double gilt and black fillets, sides covered in marbled “cat’s eye” paper, some rubbing to the upper portion of the front board, endpapers and pastedowns in combed marbled paper, corners a bit worn; later binding.

Minor foxing, a pleasing copy overall.

Head of collection of this important medical periodical, whose significance needs no further demonstration. It was published until 1914 (volume XLII) and included most of the essential contributions to the advancement of medical science in the 19th century.

The set is illustrated with 61 plates hors-texte, some lithographed and/or folding.

Half cherry calf bindings, smooth spines decorated with gilt fillets, romantic arabesques and blind-stamped fleurons, a few small rubs to some headcaps or joints, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, some corners slightly bumped, marbled edges, period bindings.

Beautiful set in a contemporary romantic binding...

Subscription prospectus issued in the format of the work, with 2 black-and-white reproductions in the text and 2 colour plates hors texte.

A fine copy.

Extremely rare first edition of the French translation prepared by Désiré Mouren.

There appears to have been no Portuguese edition of this pioneering work in the field of oceanography.

Losses to the spine, upper cover starting to detach, small marginal losses to the boards.

Francisco Calheiros da Graça (1849-1906), a Brazilian naval lieutenant, took part in the operations against Paraguay and conducted several scientific studies and hydrographic surveys.

Extremely rare.

Manuscript ex-libris on the upper cover.

First edition.

Each booklet is richly illustrated with in-text and full-page figures or photographs.

Expeditions in the Mediterranean (1952–1964), including the study of the islet of Grand Congloué, campaigns in the northeastern Mediterranean, along the coast of Provence, and in the Gulf of Genoa.

Campaigns in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean (1951–1954), and in the tropical Atlantic (1956–1962), including missions in the Gulf of Guinea, the Cape Verde Islands, and off the Atlantic coasts of South America. General index for volumes I to XI.

Back cover of the first volume soiled; small tear at the top of the front cover of the third booklet.

A rare and appealing...

Illustrated edition with 2 folding maps and 10 engraved plates outside the text (see Garrison & Morton 71; DSB 613-614).

Contemporary full marbled calf binding, spine with six raised bands decorated with double black panels stamped with blind typographic motifs, burgundy shagreen title label, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, red edges.

Some restoration to the binding, spine rebacked; evidence of waterstaining to the upper margins of the leaves in the second volume.

Giovanni Maria Lancisi (1654–1720), an Italian physician trained at the University of Rome, produced significant work on mosquitoes and malaria (he introduced the term), as well as on cardiovascular...

First edition, with a frontispiece photograph depicting Gustave Eiffel in his laboratory, and 28 plates outside the text, some folding (an additional copy of plate 26 is included).

Publisher’s binding in white cloth-backed boards with corners, flat spine showing some soiling and small tears at head and foot, printed paper label mounted on spine, printed title on upper board, corners slightly rubbed.

Pleasant internal condition.

A light water stain in the left margin of the frontispiece and at the foot of the lower cover, some soiling to the bottom of the upper cover, and a few pencil annotations in the margins.

The author presents the results of experiments...

Very rare first edition of this pamphlet, absent from all bibliographies consulted on the subject (Borba de Moraes, Rodrigues, Maggs, Bibliotheca brasiliensis, Robert Bosch), as well as from the national libraries of Brazil and Portugal.

Tears and losses at the corners of the covers, spine reinforced with a brown adhesive strip, a few small spots of foxing.

Very rare first run of this fascinating maritime periodical, whose publication, under the direction of the renowned Edouard Corbière (1793-1875), continued until 1838 (a total of 18 issues), before the title was absorbed into the Journal de la marine (see Polak, 6955, who only records and knew of the first volume).

The set is illustrated with 15 plates: 4 lithographed plates hors texte, including one folding plate, for the first volume; 2 hors texte plates, one of them lithographed, for the second; 3 lithographed plates for the third volume; a lithographed frontispiece in each of the following volumes: 4, 5, 6 and 7; and 3 lithographed plates, including a frontispiece, for...

First and only Castilian edition of these navigation tables, which were nonetheless translated into English as early as 1801.

No copy recorded in the CCF.

Contemporary half vellum with corners, smooth spine tooled in blind with Greek key rolls, rubbed cherry shagreen label with losses, marbled paper boards with scratches and losses, sprinkled edges, period binding.

José de Mendoza y Ríos (1761-1816) was a mathematician and astronomer; he specialised in the field of nautical astronomy.

First edition illustrated with figures in the text. 

Comprising two articles (issues 111-114, then 121-126) published in the periodical Les Grandes usines de France, which appeared from 1859 to 1898 and gathered, issue by issue, monographs on the country’s industrial establishments (the complete collection includes 360 issues in 19 volumes). 

Disbound copy.

First edition.

Bradel binding in half beige cloth, smooth spine, black oasis morocco lettering-piece, marbled paper boards, original wrappers preserved, slightly soiled at the margins and reinforced, modern binding signed Laurenchet.

Some minor foxing.

First edition adorned with numerous copper-engraved reproductions of medals and coins distributed across 4 plates outside the text, together with 19 vignettes within the text.

Half blue sheep binding with corners, unlettered spine with five raised bands, moiré-patterned paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, covers preserved, front cover marginally soiled, modern binding.

Rare collection of twelve letters focused on coinage.

The Lorrain scholar Nicolas-Damas Marchant (1767-1833) was a military physician, numismatist, and also served as mayor of Metz from 1 November 1805 to 6 May 1815, spanning almost the entire Imperial period.

First edition and definitive and posthumous edition, arranged in strict chronological order, of a very rare iconographic series whose publication had begun as early as 1806 in somewhat disorderly instalments, but was never completed (only 49 instalments had appeared at the author’s death).

Cf Brunet V, 1453.

Work illustrated with 300 plates: lithographed and watercoloured title-frontispiece and 149 engraved plates, most finely hand-coloured, for the first volume; 150 plates for the second.

Contemporary bindings in half cherry-red morocco-grained shagreen with corners, spines with five raised bands decorated with blind fillets and panels, some minor rubbing to spines...

First edition, one of the rare copies printed on deluxe paper.

Full cherry-red shagreen binding, spine with four raised bands decorated with gilt fillets and triple gilt panels, some rubbing to headcaps and bands, gilt rolls at the headcaps, gilt fillet, dotted and garland borders on the covers, scratches and stains to the lower portion of the front cover, white moiré silk endpapers and pastedowns, gilt garland borders on the pastedowns, all edges gilt, gilt dots on the edges, contemporary binding.

One wormhole at the foot of the final leaves not affecting the text, some foxing, particularly on the white endpapers, library shelf labels pasted on a pastedown.

Important...

First edition, only two copies listed in the CCF (Archives nationales, Arras).

Spine split with some losses. 

Complete with the two successive reports (1 February 1862; 6 June 1863).

First edition, printed in a very small number of copies of this offprint from the Journal de l'agriculture et des pays chauds, 1865-1866; cf. Berger & Rey, p. 232. Not cited by Pritzel.

Bradel binding in full green boards, smooth spine, black shagreen lettering piece, modern binding.

Dr. Victor Pérez was a physician in Laguna (Tenerife) and Dr. Sagot (1821-1888) was a former surgeon in the Imperial Navy.

Pleasant and rare copy.

Very rare first edition illustrated at the end with 4 folding plates (cf Quérard VII, 190).

Modern binding in half mottled sheep with small vellum corners, smooth spine decorated with double gilt fillets, red morocco title-piece, marbled paper boards.

The author was a lawyer and architect in Lunéville.

Chapters on fire, the causes of fires, stoves and chimneys, floors, partitions, staircases, roofing, etc.

Pleasant copy.

New edition illustrated with 79 woodcuts in the text (cf. Bibliographie der Spielbücher).

Contemporary limp vellum, plain spine rubbed and soiled, covers stained.

Light dampstaining at the head of the opening leaves, at the foot of the first part, and affecting other leaves.

The work is generally attributed to Father Leurechon (1591-1670), a Jesuit from Lorraine, professor of mathematics, philosophy and theology at the University of Pont-à-Mousson (Dictionary of Scientific Biography VIII 271), though its authorship remains disputed (cf. David Singmaster, Bibliography of Some Recreational Mathematics Books, 2004, who attributes it to Hendrik van Etten).

...

Rare bilingual edition, in Italian with the Croatian text facing, of this study on the woods of Istria, with at the end of the volume a folding engraved plate on the timbers intended for naval construction "de sorte que les navires dureraient plus longtemps".

Disbound copy, the plate detached.

From the Bibliothèque économique Lasteyrie, with its stamp on the title page.

First edition, printed in very small numbers, of this offprint from the Bulletins de l'Académie royale de Belgique, 3rd series, vol. IV, no. 12.

No copy in the CCF. A single copy in Worldcat.

Traces of a label and of a distribution stamp in the left margin of the upper cover, a few small spots of foxing.

The physicist Charles Montigny (1819-1890) was director of the science section of the Académie royale des Sciences et Belles-Lettres de Bruxelles, of which he had been a member since 1867.

Inscribed by Charles Montigny to Admiral Ernest Mouchez (1821-1892), a specialist in hydrological and astronomical observations, director of the Paris...

First edition of Leonhard Euler’s first book devoted entirely to astronomy, published in Berlin by Ambrosius Haude in 1744, with no date printed on the title-page. Quarto, illustrated with an allegorical frontispiece after F. H. Frisch, engraved by Berot, and four folding plates of astronomical and geometrical diagrams. The frontispiece was printed on leaf A4, which would normally have contained pages 7 and 8, and was then placed facing the title-page: the pagination consequently passes directly from 6 to 9, with no loss of text. 185 pages, numbered through 187.

Modern...

First edition of this important work on Marseille's colonial trade, published anonymously in Avignon in 1764 under the designation "par un Citadin" [by a Citizen]. The work has long been attributed to Chambon, described by the Bibliothèque nationale as a collector for the royal tax farms, while Barbier identifies him as a receiver-general of finances.

Two volumes, quarto. Volume I: engraved title, 4 unnumbered leaves comprising title, advertisement and table of chapters, 615 pp., with errata on the verso of the...

First edition, illustrated in the text and with 7 plates out of text, including two heliogravure views, one black-and-white map, and 4 folding maps in colour.

Contemporary half green morocco binding, spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt fleurons, marbled paper boards ("cat's eye" pattern), marbled endpapers and pastedowns, speckled edges. A fine period binding.

A few minor spots, mostly on the endpapers; a handsome copy.

First edition of this significant publication issued by the Commission of Inquiry tasked with collecting all available data and documentation on the cultivation, production, and sale of tobacco.

Illustrated with numerous folding tables and a folding map of France, printed in lithography by A. Cabassol and bound out of text.

Apparently not recorded in the Bibliothèque nationale de France.

Contemporary half calf binding, flat spine rebacked and decorated with gilt fillets, morocco labels in light brown, some rubbing to the spine, marbled paper boards with minor marginal flaws, marbled endpapers, sprinkled edges.

Some spotting to top edge; an embossed ownership...

First edition, printed in a small number of copies, of this offprint from the Annales des sciences physiques et naturelles, d'agriculture et d'industrie de Lyon, I, 1838, illustrated with 3 lithographed plates including one folding. (cf. Stafleu, II, 2645. Not in Pritzel.)

Upper right corner of the front wrapper restored.

An appealing copy, bearing a presentation inscription from the author on the front wrapper: "Hommage à M. Lemaire. Offert par l'auteur". This may refer to the botanist Charles Lemaire (1800–1871), author of the Flore des serres et des jardins de l'Europe and a specialist in cacti—plants that are almost exclusively native to the...

First quarto edition, third issue (distinguished by the absence of the table of contents at the end; the other two issues present this table as 28 unnumbered leaves or 42 pages), cf. Polak 7161.

Each of the 23 books comprising the ordinance is separated from the preceding one by 8 blank leaves, likely intended for handwritten supplements or annotations, though these remain unused.

Full tan calf binding, spine with five raised bands, gilt compartments and tooling, tan leather title label, gilt rolls on the somewhat faded caps, name of a former owner gilt-stamped on upper board, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt fillets partially faded along the edges, red edges...

First edition of this major work, illustrated with 12 engraved plates and 85 figures in the text (cf. Garrison-Morton 2485. Osler 1550. Duveen 461. Cushing P/139. Waller 10966. Norman 1658).

In studying the process of fermentation, Pasteur demonstrated that the spoilage of beer was caused by airborne microorganisms, and not by spontaneous generation as previously believed.

His research contributed significantly to the treatment and preservation of perishable beverages such as beer, wine, and milk.

A very attractive copy, preserved in its original wrappers.