London: Taylor & Francis, 1910. A fine copy of Millikan’s famous experiment, later known as the ‘oil-drop experiment’, in which he first provided the definitive proof that all electrical charges are exact multiples of a definite, fundamental value—the charge of the electron. Millikan’s experiment is nowadays known as the ‘oil-drop..... More
Item #4548

Valladolid: Sebastian Martinez, 1551. First edition, very rare, of the first separate, and first illustrated, anatomical work in the vernacular printed in Spain. “While Valverde di Hamusco’s Historia de la composicion del cuerpo humano (1556) is often credited with introducing into Spain the Vesalian anatomical iconography coupled with a vernacular..... More
Item #5399

Venice: Evangelisto Deuchino, 1615. First edition, the Macclesfield copy, of this very rare and important work of Renaissance engineering and mathematics, Guidobaldo’s analysis of the theory and operation of Archimedes’ most famous mechanical invention, the ‘cochlea’ or ‘Archimedean screw’. This is a device used for raising water consisting of a...... More
Item #5425

Venice: Bernardo Giunta & G.B. Ciotti, 1609. First edition, very rare, of the principal astronomical work of one of the greatest Renaissance mathematicians. “Guidobaldo was Galileo’s patron and friend for twenty years and was possibly the greatest single influence on the mechanics of Galileo” (DSB). Guidobaldo was also influential in..... More
Item #2745

Venice: Remondini, 1761. First edition, first issue, a very fine copy, of “one of the most important [works] in the history of medicine” (Garrison & Morton). “After Antonio Benivieni (1443-1502), Giovanni Battista Morgagni is considered the founder of pathological anatomy. His ‘De sedibus’, regarded as one of the most important..... More
Item #5608

Paris: Antoine Boudet, 1746. First edition, rare on the market, of “the first specialized book on dental prosthetics” (G & M), and perhaps the first contribution to what would later be called “cosmetic dentistry.” “Mouton, in 1746, … gave to the light a monograph, the first extant, on mechanical dentistry..... More
Item #5166

Paris: Jean Dedin, 1631-39. First edition, extremely rare author’s presentation copy, of all four books of this important work on conic sections, intended to provide the geometrical basis for the study of optics. “Mydorge’s work on conic sections contains hundreds of problems published for the first time, as well as..... More
Item #3576

Leipzig & Berlin: Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig & Springer, 1869-1921. A remarkable collection of offprints, a major portion of the published works of Carl Gottfried Neumann (1832-1925), representing virtually all of the areas to which he contributed, most importantly the related fields of electromagnetism and potential theory. His lasting..... More
Item #4934

London: Benji & Sam. Tooke, 1722. Second edition, but the first authorised and edited by Newton (probably with the assistance of John Machin – see below), of his treatise on algebra, or ‘universal arithmetic,’ his “most often read and republished mathematical work” (Whiteside, Papers V, p. xiv). “Included are ‘Newton’s..... More
Item #5823

Paris: De Bure l’aine, 1740. First edition in French of Newton’s first exposition of his fluxional calculus, translated with a long and important preface by the celebrated naturalist Comte de Buffon. Originally written in 1671, in Latin, this was Newton’s first comprehensive presentation of his method of fluxions which, according..... More
Item #5802

London: Printed for Sam. Smith and Benj. Walford, Printers to the Royal Society, at the Prince’s Arms in St. Paul’s Church-Yard, 1704. First edition, first issue, and a superlative copy, presented by Newton to his close friend and collaborator Nicolas Fatio de Duillier, with an inscription recording the gift in..... More
Item #5080

Antwerp: heirs of Arnold Birckman, 1567. First edition of this very rare and celebrated treatise on algebra, the superb de Thou copy bound in early seventeenth-century French citron morocco with his arms – scientific books in de Thou bindings very rarely appear on the market. “Considered the greatest of Portuguese..... More
Item #5824

New Haven, Connecticut: n.p., July 1969. First edition, very rare, of arguably the single most important work on dinosaurs, by “the most influential palaeontologist of the second half of the 20th century” (Dodson & Gingerich). Prior to Ostrom’s work, dinosaurs were largely depicted as slow-witted, slow-moving, cold-blooded reptiles. This revolutionary..... More
Item #5493