London: John Murray, 1859. First edition, an unusually fine copy, untouched in its original binding, of “the most influential scientific work of the nineteenth century” (Horblit), “the most important biological work ever written” (Freeman), and “a turning point, not only in the history of science, but in the history of..... More
Item #5016
Leiden: Jan Maire, 1637. First edition, a fine, large copy, 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 co-ordinate geometry, “of epoch-making..... More
Item #4982
Strasbourg; Leiden: Elzevier; Elzevier, 1636; 1638. First edition of a great Galilean rarity, the Nov-Antiqua or ‘Letter to Christina’, with the first edition of his most important work, the Discorsi, together in a magnificent contemporary armorial binding executed for the Archbishop of Reims. The Nov-Antiqua is a “superb manifesto of..... More
Item #4995
Bologna: Press of the Academy of Sciences, 1791. First edition, incredibly rare offprint, one of 12 copies issued, of this epoch-making work, one of the most important in the history of electricity. Galvani’s paper was published in one of the ‘Opuscula’ of the journal De Bononiensi scientiarum et artium instituto..... More
Item #4822
London: Printed by T. and J.W. Pasham, in Black-Friars, and sold by the booksellers, in London and Westminster, 1763. First edition, extremely rare, of Harrison’s announcement of his invention and testing of his first accurate chronometer, the famous ‘sea-watch’ later called H4, which solved the problem of determining longitude at..... More
Item #4994
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
Paris: for the author, 1588. First edition, a magnificent copy bound in contemporary gilt vellum, and with outstanding provenance, of one of the most famous illustrated books of the sixteenth century and a landmark in book design. “The plates in Ramelli’s treatise are artistically as well as technologically superb, the..... More
Item #3694