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

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

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

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

N.p. n.d., ca. 1766-1780. A unique collection of maps prepared for the first geological atlas of France. “These maps, so far as I know, were the first ever constructed to express the superficial distribution of minerals and rocks. The gifted Frenchman [Guettard] who produced them is thus the father of..... More
Item #5379

Berlin: Johann Christian Papen, 1710. First edition, rare, of this milestone in computer history, Leibniz’s description of his famous calculating machine, the first stepped-drum calculator, and the first machine that could perform multiplication and division. “Leibniz studied Morland’s and Pascal’s various designs and set himself the task of constructing a...... More
Item #4596

London: Printed by S[arah]. G[riffin]. and B[ennet]. G[riffin]. for Benjamin Tooke and Thomas Sawbridge, [1669]. First edition, first issue, extremely rare, of the first of Leybourn’s books on the subject. This issue has ‘dialling:’ in line 2 of the title and lacks imprint date; the more common (but still rare)..... More
Item #4610

London: Printed by John Baskett … And by the Assigns of Thomas Newcomb and Henry Hills, 1714. First edition of the Act of 1714 establishing a reward for the discovery of a method of determining longitude at sea. “An early example of a means adopted by a government for encouraging scientific discovery and progress” (Grolier/Horblit)..... More
Item #5273

London: John Murray, 1830-1832-1833. First edition of this “classic by ‘the father of modern geology’” (Grolier/Horblit), famous for “establishing a new era in geology” (DSB), presenting the doctrine of uniformitarianism, namely, that the processes of the past must be judged by those of the present. “One of the key works..... More
Item #5181

London: for William and John Innys, 1720. First edition, very rare in commerce, of Maclaurin’s first book, dedicated to Newton and bearing his imprimatur as president of the Royal Society. Maclaurin is best known for his Treatise of Fluxions (1742), “the earliest logical and systematic publication of the Newtonian methods..... More
Item #5542

Modena: impensis Authoris ex Typ. Cassiani, 1662. First edition of these very rare ephemerides, containing one of the most detailed lunar maps up to that time. Cornelio Malvasia (1603-63), a wealthy nobleman and amateur astronomer from Bologna, made his astronomical observations in the private observatory he built over his villa..... More
Item #5401

Paris: Gauthier-Villars, 1888. A remarkable collection of offprints documenting Marey’s foundational contributions to the science of cinematography. Marey was “the lead character in the birth of scientific cinema” (Tosi, p. 82); he “was the first to use a single camera to produce photographs on a strip of sensitized film in..... More
Item #5494

Montpelier: Daniel Pech, 1671. First edition, very rare, of this important work, of which “less than a dozen copies are known to exist, most imperfect” (The Roy G. Neville Historical Chemical Library, vol. 2, p. 153. “Sold only by the author at his home in Montpellier, the Pratique contains clear..... More
Item #3380