Berlin: Ambrosius Haude, 1744. First edition of Euler's first treatise on astronomy, “a fundamental work on calculation of orbits” (DSB). Stimulated by the appearance of two great comets in 1742 and 1744 (now designated C/1742 C1 and C/1743 X1), Euler developed new methods to determine the (elliptic) orbits of planets..... More
Item #2726

Venice: Vincenzo Luchino, 1564. First edition, very rare, and a fine copy, of one of the most important of all anatomical books. “Eustachi’s first works were Ossium examen and Demotu capitis, both written in 1561 and directed against the anti-Galenism of Vesalius, for whom he had developed a unilateral hostility..... More
Item #5227

Venice: Marco Antonio Ulmo and Gratioso Perchachino, 1561. First edition, first issue, very rare, of the greatest Italian anatomical book of the sixteenth century, a detailed critical commentary on Vesalius’ De humani corporis fabrica. This is a pristine copy in an untouched contemporary binding. “The large amount of new material..... More
Item #5352

London: Richard Taylor, 1831. First edition, very rare offprint, inscribed by Faraday to his friend and fellow electrical researcher William Snow Harris, of one of Faraday’s most important papers: his experiments with sound vibrations that facilitated his revolutionary discovery of the production of electricity by electromagnetic induction. “In February 1831..... More
Item #5298

Paris: Jean Mariette, 1728. First edition of Fauchard’s pioneering work in the field of modern dentistry. “Before Fauchard’s time the profession of dentistry was truly a ‘mystery: for its practitioners had steadfastly refrained from publishing details of their technique and equipment. Fauchard summarized in his pages with numerous illustrations all..... More
Item #5119

Toulouse: Bernard Bosc, 1670. First edition, the superb Macclesfield copy printed on large and thick paper and with the engraved frontispiece portrait of Fermat (intended only for the few large paper copies), of Fermat’s annotated edition of Diophantus’ Arithmetica. This is the first printing of Fermat’s contributions to the theory..... More
Item #5170

Lancaster, PA & New York, NY: American Physical Society, 1948. First edition, journal issue in original printed wrappers, and a virtually mint copy, of Feynman’s path-integral formulation of quantum mechanics, a “new formalism for quantum theory (presented in Feynman’s thesis) which … turned out to be the most powerful and..... More
Item #5061

Vancouver: [np], 1975. A detailed draft for a talk given to the Canadian Association of Physics Students, in Vancouver, on the contemporary state of subatomic particle physics, its current difficulties and possible future developments. Although a ‘popular’ talk, it is pitched at a high level, appropriate to postgraduate students in physics..... More
Item #4859

New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1985. First edition, first printing, and a fine copy in a bright dust jacket, signed by Feynman and from the library of a second Nobel Prize winner, Edwin P. McMillan. Signed copies of this first printing are rare: Feynman was notorious for refusing..... More
Item #4459

[New Haven, CT: Published by the Academy and printed by Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor, 1892]. First edition, extremely rare offprint, of Fisher’s “startlingly original PhD thesis” (Blaug), which expounds his monetary theories and which established his international reputation. “As a graduate student at Yale he produced what Paul Samuelson has..... More
Item #5300

Paris: Bachelier, 1853. First edition, rare, and an exceptionally fine copy, of Foucault’s doctoral thesis on the speed of light, in which he provides a convincing proof for the wave theory of light. In the 1840s Foucault undertook a series of optical experiments using an apparatus of rotating mirrors to..... More
Item #4843

Paris: Firmin Didot, 1822. First edition of the first mathematical study of heat diffusion, the first major mathematization of a branch of physics outside mechanics. “This work marks an epoch in the history of both pure and applied mathematics. It is the source of all modern methods in mathematical physics..... More
Item #3841

Venice: Heirs of Lucantonio Giunta, 1546. First edition of Fracastoro’s most important scientific work, forming “the foundation of all modern views on the nature of infectious diseases” (Heirs of Hippocrates 101). “The first scientific definition of contagion known and a competent discussion of causes of infection. Gives a clear account..... More
Item #5228