First edition. Vienna: In Officina Libraria Kaliwodiana, 1758. An exceptionally fine copy, in untouched contemporary blind tooled pigskin, of “Boscovich’s masterpiece” (Norman), a work “now recognized as a fundamental influence on modern mathematical physics” (Printing and the Mind of Man), and a notorious rarity. Only two copies of this rare... More
Item #4128
First edition. London [but probably Paris]: Fletcher Gyles, 1755. The exceptionally fine La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt copy in untouched armorial binding of the earliest treatise on modern economics. Cantillon is the “founding father of modern economics” (Rothbard) and the Essai has been declared “more emphatically than any other single work, the cradle... More
Item #3706
Venice: Giunta, 1571. First edition, and a fine copy in a contemporary binding, of this very rare work which coined the phrase “circulation of the blood” (circulatio sanguinis, f. 111v) and provided the theoretical basis for Harvey’s experimental and quantitative treatment in De motu cordis (1628). “Cesalpino preceded Harvey in... More
Item #4031
London: Henry Colburn, 1839. First edition, an extraordinary presentation copy connecting two exceptional Victorians, inscribed by the Commander of the Beagle Robert FitzRoy (see below), the man who chose Darwin to accompany him on the epochal voyage. “The voyage of the Beagle has been by far the most important event... More
Item #4042
Leiden: Jan Maire, 1637. First edition, a fine, large copy in untouched contemporary vellum, of Descartes’ first and most famous work. Following the Discours, now celebrated as one of the canonical texts of Western philosophy, are three ‘Essais’, the last of which, La Géométrie, contains the birth of analytical or... More
Item #3990
[Washington, D.C.]: Carnegie Institution, 1929. First edition, extraordinarily rare inscribed offprint, of Hubble’s landmark paper, which “made as great a change in man’s conception of the universe as the Copernican revolution 400 years before” (DSB). Even ‘ordinary’ copies of this offprint are very rare, but we have never seen nor... More
Item #3988
![Cinq livres de chirurgie. 1. Des bandages. 2. Des fractures. 3. Des luxations, avec une Apologie touchant les harquebousades. 4. Des morsures & piqueures venimeuses. 5. Des gouttes. [Bound with:] Traicté de la peste, de la petite Verolle & Rougeolle: avec une brefue description de la Lepre. Ambroise PARÉ.](/pictures/thumb/3697.jpg?v=1439958403)
Paris: André Wechel, 1572; 1568. Very rare first editions of two of Paré’s most important works. The Cinq livres de chirurgie is exceedingly scarce in first edition, and perhaps the most important work by Pare. Since 1916 ABPC has recorded the sale of only 2 copies: one in 1963 in... More
Item #3697
First edition. Paris: for the author, 1588. Exceptionally fine copy, with distinguished provenance, of one of the most important books on the science and technology of machines in the renaissance, and one of the most famous illustrated books of the sixteenth century – a tour de force of book design... More
Item #3694
Venice: Gaspare Bindoni, 1597. First edition, first issue, one of five known large and thick paper copies, of the first book devoted entirely to plastic surgery. Only two of these are in private hands: the present copy, in a contemporary binding, and the Norman copy, which is an ex-library copy... More
Item #3995
Cambridge: at the University Press, 1910-12-13. First edition of all three volumes of this monumental work. Complete sets of the first edition which, like ours, are not ex-library, are very rare on the market – only two such copies have sold at auction in the past 25 years. Probably named... More
Item #3562