Königsberg: Leupold, 1885. First edition, very rare, of Hilbert’s inaugural dissertation at the University of Königsberg, ‘On the invariant properties of special binary forms, in particular the spherical functions,’ in which he began his study of invariant theory. This subject was at the forefront of mathematics in the second half..... More
Item #4944
Florence: In officina Iuntarum, Bernardi filiorum, 1567. First edition, very rare, of the only surviving work of Hipparchus (c. 190-127 BC). “Even the most casual discussion of ancient astronomy will not fail to call Hipparchus of Nicaea in Bithynia ‘the greatest astronomer of antiquity’” (Neugebauer, p. 320). Our knowledge of..... More
Item #3643
![Item #5368 Opera posthuma [Opuscula astronomica]; viz. Astronomia Kepleriana, defensa & promota....](/pictures/thumb/5368.jpg?v=1622713075)
London: W. Godbid for J. Martyn, 1672-73. First edition, very rare, of the principal published source of the short-lived “pride and boast of British astronomy,” as he was later described by Sir John Herschel. The works published here posthumously, edited by John Wallis, constitute almost all of Horrocks’ writings that..... More
Item #5368
Edinburgh: Royal Society, 1788. First edition of this epoch-making work, the foundation of modern geology. “[Hutton’s] fundamental conception, now accepted as a matter of course, but then entirely new, was the doctrine of uniformitarianism. The formation of the surface of the earth is one continuous process which can be studied..... More
Item #5196
[Edinburgh: N.p., 1785]. First edition, inscribed presentation copy from Hutton to Matthew Boulton, of one of the great rarities in the history of science, Hutton’s first announcement of his revolutionary view that our earth was shaped by slow, steady forces acting over a long period of time – the doctrine..... More
Item #5349
The Hague: Adriaan Moetjens, 1698. First edition, an exceptional copy, ruled in red throughout and in a richly decorated contemporary binding, of Huygens’s posthumously published final work, in which he expounds his theories about the possibility of life on other planets, linking them to Copernican thought: “A man that is..... More
Item #5369
Leiden: Pieter van der Aa, 1690. First edition of Huygens’ path-breaking exposition of his wave or pulse theory of light. Huygens had developed his theory of light in 1676 and 1677, and “completed the Traité in 1678, but left it unpublished for twelve years, until stimulated by the appearance of Isaac..... More
Item #5350
Paris: Gauthier-Villars, 1874-95. First edition, extremely rare offprint, of Janssen’s epoch-making description of his ‘photographic revolver’ and of its first results, “the first ‘film’” (Singer, A History of Technology V, p. 739). “The first practical device for sequential photography, invented to record the transit of Venus in 1874, was later..... More
Item #5495
Paris: Gauthier-Villars, 1870. First edition, very rare, of “the book that established group theory as a subject in its own right in mathematics” (Gray, p. 149). “Jordan’s monumental work, Traité des Substitutions et des Équations algébriques, published in 1870, is a masterpiece of mathematical architecture. The beauty of the edifice..... More
Item #4912
Berlin: Springer, 1927. First edition, extremely rare offprint, of this important paper, in which Jordan introduces his approach to quantum field theory, independent of Dirac’s, and also gives his formulation of Fermi-Dirac statistics, which he had developed earlier than both Fermi and Dirac. “Pascual Jordan is the unsung hero among..... More
Item #5424
Leiden: Eduard Ijdo, 1911. First printing of the first announcement of the discovery of superconductivity, the disappearance of electrical resistance in certain materials at very low temperatures. “Of all the discoveries in condensed matter physics during the 20th century, some might call superconductivity the “crown jewel”. Others might say that..... More
Item #3538
Frankfurt: Claudius Marnius & heirs of Johannes Aubrius, 1604. First edition, an excellent copy, of the foundation work of modern optics. “Working within the perspectivist tradition of Alhazen, Roger Bacon, Witelo, John Pecham, and others, Kepler accepts that sight is possible due to rays emitted from visible objects, with these..... More
Item #5230
Linz: Hans Blanck, 1616. First edition, a considerably revised, rearranged and augmented version of Kepler’s Nova Stereometria published the year before, a work which is “generally regarded as one of the significant works in the prehistory of the calculus” (Gingerich in DSB). “Desiring to outfit his new household with the..... More
Item #5003
Frankfurt: Erasmus Kempfer for Godefrid Tampach, 1621-1622. Second, enlarged, edition of the Mysterium cosmographicum (first, 1596), Kepler’s first scientific book, “the first unabashedly Copernican treatise since De revolutionibus itself” (Gingerich in DSB), which laid “the foundation of his vast later astronomical work [and] immediately made him famous in scientific circles..... More
Item #5861
1614-1639. An extraordinary sammelband, with a remarkable provenance, containing six rare works by Kepler, including the first edition of Somnium, Kepler’s imaginary voyage to the moon, in which he utilizes the motions of the planets as they would be seen from the moon to argue for the Copernican system, and..... More
Item #5326
Frankfurt: Godefrid Tampach, 1611. First edition, extremely rare, of the first scientific treatise on crystallography. Written in the form of a letter, this small tract was presented to Kepler’s friend at court, Matthäus Wackher von Wackenfels (who had informed Kepler of the discoveries Galileo had made with the telescope in..... More
Item #4960
Ulm: Jonas Saur, 1627. First edition of this great scientific classic, “the chief vehicle for the recognition of his astronomical accomplishments” (DSB), with the magnificent and very rare world map (see below). “The tables are extraordinarily important, for they document in a unique way Kepler’s great contributions to astronomy” (Gingerich)..... More
Item #4703
Ulm: Jonas Saur, 1627. First edition, a copy with contemporary annotations, of this great scientific classic, “the chief vehicle for the recognition of his astronomical accomplishments” (DSB). “The tables are extraordinarily important, for they document in a unique way Kepler’s great contributions to astronomy” (Gingerich). This was Kepler’s last lifetime..... More
Item #5639
London: Hazell, Watson and Viney, 1896. First edition, inscribed presentation copy, of this scarce early study on automobiles by the inventor and engineer John Henry Knight. “The development of the automobile is of great historic importance in the history of technology. Of all the early works written on the subject..... More
Item #5679
Stockholm: P.A. Norstedt & Soner, 1904. First edition, extremely rare offprint issue, inscribed by the author to Fredholm, of von Koch’s paper, which contains the first examples of geometric fractals, the famous ‘Koch curve’ and ‘Koch snowflake’. The term ‘fractal’ was coined much later, by Benoit Mandelbrot in his 1975..... More
Item #3660
![Item #4300 Méchanique analitique. [Bound with:] Théorie des fonctions analytiques. Joseph Louis...](/pictures/thumb/4300.jpg?v=1592229068)
Paris; Paris: Veuve Desaint; de l’Imprimerie de la République, 1788; An V [1797]. An exceptional volume, in a fine contemporary binding, containing the first edition of Lagrange’s masterpiece, the Méchanique, “one of the outstanding landmarks in the history of both mathematics and mechanics” (Sarton, p. 470) and “perhaps the most..... More
Item #4300
![Item #5787 Astronomie. Tome premier [- seconde]. Jérôme LALANDE](/pictures/thumb/5787.jpg?v=1660808223)
Paris: Desaint & Saillant, 1764. First edition, a fine set from the library of Erik Prosperin, of this major work by the celebrated French astronomer, which served as the introductory text for a generation of astronomers. “Next to his indefatigable efforts to improve astronomical tables, Lalande’s greatest contribution was as..... More
Item #5787
Paris: Dentu; the author, 1809. First edition, a truly extraordinary copy printed on thick paper (papier vélin) and bound in contemporary red morocco gilt with arms, of Lamarck’s most complete presentation of his theory of evolution, “a classic in the literature of evolutionary theory” (PMM). Part I of the Philosophie..... More
Item #5503
Paris: Maradan, Seconde Année de la République, [1794]. First edition of the first of Lamarck’s full-length treatise on chemistry a copy with extensive near-contemporary annotations. “With the publication of the Recherches, Larmarck brought together the various strands of his work in physics and chemistry, and his views on the differences..... More
Item #5660
The Hague: H. Scheurleer, 1758. First edition, extremely rare, of Lambert’s first published book, dealing with the path of light rays in air and other media. Lambert began working on aspects of refraction through the atmosphere in 1752, and from 1754 this work was carried out in parallel with his..... More
Item #5808