Paris: Jacque Quillau, 1708. First edition, first issue, very rare, of the first separately published textbook of probability. This issue has significant textual differences from what is usually referred to as the first edition. “In 1708 [Montmort] published his work on Chances, where with the courage of Columbus he revealed..... More
Item #4632
Venice: Remondini, 1761. First edition, first issue, an exceptional copy, completely untouched in the original printer’s interim-boards, 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..... More
Item #4720
Santa Monica, CA: The RAND Corporation, 10 December 1951. First edition of this very rare report which presents a framework within which to make descriptive analyses of centrally-directed organizations. Morgenstern is best known for his seminal book with John von Neumann, The Theory of Games and Economic Behavior (1944), and..... More
Item #3317
London: Taylor and Francis, 1913-14. First edition, an exceptionally fine set of both parts of this landmark work, journal issue, in the original printed wrappers. “In 1913 and 1914, respectively, Moseley (1887-1915) published two papers which, once and for all, established a firm connection of the Periodic Table, which was..... More
Item #4607
Paris: Gauthier-Villars, 1869. First edition, a fine copy in original printed wrappers, of the first book explicitly devoted to solar energy and its applications. In this work Mouchot described the adaptation of solar energy for powering steam engines. “The publication of his book on solar energy, ‘La Chaleur solaire et..... More
Item #3048
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
Edinburgh; Padua: Andrew Hart; Giacomo Cadorino, 1619; [1667]. First edition, extremely rare, of this complement to Napier’s epoch-making Mirifici logorithmorum canonis descriptio (1614) – while the Descriptio gave the first ever table of logarithms, it was in the Constructio that Napier explained the method of their construction. It is here..... More
Item #4638
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1950. First edition of Nash and Shapley’s game-theoretic analysis of a simplified three-person poker, signed by John Nash. “During a three-year period, from 1948 to 1951, Nash wrote a doctoral dissertation and four research papers that revolutionized game theory, the branch of mathematics dealing with..... More
Item #5032
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1956. First edition of Nash’s most famous work in pure mathematics, his solution of “a deep philosophical problem concerning geometry”, first posed by Bernhard Riemann, “one of the most important pieces of mathematical analysis in this century” which “has completely changed the perspective on partial differential..... More
Item #3536
Baltimore: Waverley Press, 1953. First edition, journal issue in original printed wrappers, signed by John Nash, of this important paper which set a new entire research agenda that has been referred to as the "Nash program" for cooperative games. "In Nash's (1953) analysis of bargaining, the innovation was to use the..... More
Item #5030
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
Leipzig: Grossius and J.F. Gleditsch, 1688. First edition of the important Acta Eruditorum review of the Principia. There were four reviews of the Principia, of which this is chronologically the third. It is “the most detailed and serious of the four reviews. It was comprehensive enough to provide many people..... More
Item #4463
Cambridge; London: Typis Academicus; Benjamin Tooke, 1707. First edition of Newton’s treatise on algebra, or ‘universal arithmetic,’ his “most often read and republished mathematical work” (Whiteside). “Included are ‘Newton’s identities’ providing expressions for the sums of the ith powers of the roots of any polynomial equation, for any integer i...... More
Item #4639
London: Printed for R. and J. Dodsley, 1756. First printing, very rare, of these letters of Newton which Koyré has described as “one of the most precious and important documents for the study and interpretation of Newtonian thought” (Koyré, Newtonian Studies (1965), p. 202). Newton here gives his views on..... More
Item #3537
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
Paris: Desaint & Saillant; Lambert, 1759. First edition in French of Newton’s Principia, “the greatest work in the history of science” (PMM), translated by Madame du Châtelet, intimate of Voltaire, with the assistance of Alexis-Claude Clairaut; this is an exceptional copy in original wrappers. Begun in 1745 but published posthumously..... More
Item #4937
Leipzig: E.W. Fritzsch, 1872. First edition in exceptionally rare original publisher's cloth binding. This copy previously handled by Bill Schaberg: "When I wrote The Nietzsche Canon: A Publication History and Bibliography (The University of Chicago Press, 1995), I had never even heard of these cloth copies of Nietzsche’s first book..... More
Item #4535
London: Allde, for Astley, 1562 [i.e., 1592]. Third edition (first, 1581) of one of the greatest rarities in the entire literature of navigation and magnetism, and “one of the first truly scientific books published in England” (Waters, The Art of Navigation, p. 153). “It is usual to ascribe to Galileo..... More
Item #4986
Antwerp: heirs of Arnold Birckman, 1567. First edition, one of two issues published in the same year, of this rare and celebrated treatise on algebra, and a copy with outstanding provenance. Scientific books in de Thou bindings rarely appear on the market. “Considered the greatest of Portuguese mathematicians, Nuñez reveals..... More
Item #3645
![Su[m]ma de arithmetica geometria proportioni et proportionalità. Luca PACIOLI, Lucas de Burgo S....](/pictures/thumb/4844.jpg?v=1602480668)
[Colophon:] Venice: Paganinus de Paganinis, 10-20 November 1494. First edition, first issue (see below), very rare, this is a remarkable copy in entirely original condition and with a distinguished provenance, having been in the famous Giustiniani family from publication to the present day. The Summa is a work of enormous..... More
Item #4844
![Ars Transmutationis Metallicae ... [with, as issued] Commentarium theoricae Artis Mettalicae...](/pictures/thumb/4395.jpg?v=1592229202)
[Venice: Tacuino, 1519 (colophon of part I dated September 1518)]. First edition of one of the greatest rarities in the alchemical and chemical literature; this is an exceptionally interesting copy, bound with twelve leaves of contemporary script conveying an all-encompassing ‘tree of human endeavours’, charting the features and visually suggesting..... More
Item #4395
Geneva: Sumptibus Joan. Antonii, & Samuelis De Tournes. 1658. First Tournes edition, “the best and most complete edition of Paracelsus’ collected works” (Neville), complete with the often-missing portrait after Tintoretto. “According to Sudhoff, bibliographer of Paracelsus’ works, this compendium of the works of Paracelsus, edited by Friedrich Bitiskius, is the..... More
Item #2753
Paris: André Wechel, 1572; 1568. First editions of two of Paré's most important works, both very rare, and in fine condition. “The Cinq livres contains all new material. It had been called by several serious writers Paré's chef d'oeuvre ... in it appears the first description of the fracture of..... More
Item #3697
Bath; Bath & London: printed by R. Cruttwell; and sold by Cadell and Davies; printed by R. Cruttwell & sold by Cadell and Davies, London, J. Collow, 1799; 1806. First edition, rare, of this work in which Parry was the first to make the connection between angina and coronary heart..... More
Item #5028
![Lettres de A[mos] Dettonville contenant Quelques-unes de ses Inventions de Géométrie. Sçavoir...](/pictures/thumb/4403.jpg?v=1592229222)
Paris: Guillaume Desprez, 1659. First edition, extremely rare (one of about 120 copies printed), of one of Pascal’s most brilliant works. “Édition originale, extrêmement rare, de la dernière œuvre de Pascal, l’une des plus éclatantes de son génie” (Lucien Scheler in Tchemerzine, V, pp. 54-55). “Pascal devoted himself during 1658..... More
Item #4403