New Arrivals
The Silurian System, Founded on Geological Researches in the Counties of Salop, Hereford, Radnor, Montgomery, Caermarthen, Brecon, Pembroke, Monmouth, Gloucester, Worcester, and Stafford; With Descriptions of the Coal-Fields and Overlying Formations. [With:] ALS from Murchison to Henri Milne-Edwards. London: December 1836.
London: John Murray, 1839. First edition, and a fine copy, complete with the very rare hand-coloured engraved folding three-sheet geological map. This work is considered to be Murchison’s masterpiece, placing him among the founders of modern geology. “An important milestone in geology, for it established the oldest fossil-bearing classification then..... More
Item #5991
This boke sheweth the maner of measurynge of all maner of lande: as well of woodlande, as of lande in the felde, and comptynge the true nombre of acres of the-same [sic]. Newlye inuented and compyled by Syr Rycharde Benese Chanon of Marton Abbay besyde Lond on [sic]. [With a preface by Thomas Paynell.]
[London]: Prynted in Southwarke in Saynt Thomas hospitall, by me James Nicolson, [1537]. First edition of “the first English textbook on geometrical land-measurement and surveying” (Buisseret, p. 39), an outstanding copy in its original binding, and extremely rare thus. Benese’s Maner of Measurynge All Maner of Lande marks an epoch..... More
Item #5983
The Quantum Theory of the Emission and Absorption of Radiation. Offprint from Proceedings of the Royal Society A, vol. 114, 1927.
[London: Harrison & Sons for the Royal Society, 1927]. First edition, extremely rare offprint, of Dirac’s quantum theory of the electromagnetic field, which for the first time reconciled the wave and particle nature of light. “This paper marks the birth of quantum electrodynamics. In his ‘Introduction and Summary,’ Dirac noted..... More
Item #5979
Elementa chemiae … Vol. 1. Qui continet historiam et artis theoriam – Vol. 2. Qui continet operationes chemicas.
Leiden: Isaac Severinus, 1732. First edition, very rare uncut large paper copy, and a very early printing of this great work (see below). “The first and best edition, and rare” (Duveen). “[Boerhaave] introduced exact quantitative methods into chemistry by measuring temperature and using the best available balances made by Fahrenheit;..... More
Item #5978
I. Über die Erhaltungssätze in der Quantenmechanik [On the conservation laws of quantum mechanics]. Offprint from: Nachrichten der Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen. Mathematisch-Physikalische Klasse, 1927. [With:] II. Über die Operation der Zeitumkehr in der Quantenmechanik [On the operation of time-reversal in quantum mechanics]. Offprint from ibid., 1932.
Berlin: Weidmann, 1928; 1932. First edition, very rare offprints, of these two fundamental papers in quantum mechanics, the “invention of spatial parity as a quantum mechanical conserved quantity [I] [and the] introduction of the time inversion transformation in quantum mechanics [II]” (http://web.ihep.su/dbserv/compas/search.html). “Wigner was invited to Göttingen in 1927 to..... More
Item #5976
I. The electromagnetic equations of the supraconductor. Offprint from: Proceedings of the Royal Society of London A, Vol. 149, No. 866, March 1935. [With:] II. Supraleitung und Diamagnetismus, Offprint from: Physica, Vol. II, 1935.
London; Haag: Harrison & Sons for the Royal Society; Martinus Nijhoff, 1935; 1935. First edition, very rare offprints, of the first successful macroscopic theory of superconductivity, the vanishing of electrical resistance in some materials at very low temperatures. This is embodied in the ‘London equations’, the analogue for a superconductor..... More
Item #5972
Die “beobachtbaren Grössen” in der Theorie der Elementarteilchen. Offprint from: Zeitschrift für Physik 120. Band, 7.-10. Heft. [With:] Die beobachtbaren Grössen in der Theorie der Elementarteilchen II. Offprint from: Zeitschrift für Physik 120. Band, 11. und 12. Heft.
Berlin: Springer, 1943. First edition, extremely rare offprints, of Heisenberg’s S-matrix approach to the study of elementary particles. “Heisenberg’s prewar researches in quantum field theory, undertaken in part with Pauli, had led him to the study of cosmic rays, the highest energy particles then available for research. When an extremely..... More
Item #5971
Thirteen papers by Gödel on the logical foundations of mathematics, together with von Neumann’s historic paper on general economic equilibrium, all first editions, in Ergebnisse eines mathematischen Kolloquiums, unter Mitwirkung von Kurt Gödel und Georg Nöbeling. Herausgegeben von Karl Menger. Heft 1-8.
Leipzig & Berlin: B.G. Teubner & F. Deuticke, 1931-37. First editions, a very rare complete set in the original printed wrappers, of all eight issues of these proceedings to which Gödel contributed thirteen important papers and remarks on the foundations of logic and mathematics. The last three issues are particularly..... More
Item #5970
Coherent visible radiation of fast electrons passing through matter. Offprint from: Comptes Rendus (Doklady) de l’Academie des Sciences de l’URSS, Vol. XIV, No. 3, 1937.
de l’Academie des Sciences de l’URSS, 1937. First edition, very rare offprint, of the explanation of Cherenkov radiation, for which Frank and Tamm shared (with Cherenkov) the Nobel Prize in Physics 1958. “In certain media the speed of light is lower than in a vacuum and particles can travel faster..... More
Item #5969
Osnovania matematicheskoy teorii veroyatnostey [Foundations of the mathematical theory of probability].
St. Petersburg: Imperial Academy of Sciences, 1846. First edition, very rare, of the first Russian work on probability. “The prime impetus for the initial development in the 1820s of probability theory in the Russian Empire (putting aside the eighteenth-century contributions of Leonhard Euler and Daniel Bernoulli) was the need for..... More
Item #5961
On the action of sea-water on the germination of seeds, pp. 130-140 in: Journal of Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London (Botany), vol. 1, no. 3.
London: Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans and Williams & Norgate, 1856. First edition, journal issue in original printed wrappers, and a remarkable association copy, of this important contribution of Darwin to biogeography. This copy was presented by John Stevens Henslow, perhaps the single most influential person in leading Darwin onto..... More
Item #5958
Nova Stereometria doliorum vinariorum, in primis Austriaci, figurae omnium aptissimae; et usus in eo virgae cubicae compendiosissimus & plane singularis. Accessit Stereometriae Archemedeae supplementum...
Linz: Johann Planck, 1615. First edition, the fine Huet-Honeyman-Tomash copy, of Kepler’s contribution to the mathematics of integration techniques, an important precursor to the calculus. This is one of very few copies with the errata leaf. This copy is also printed on superior paper stock, quite white and crisp, whereas..... More
Item #5949
A New System of Chemical Philosophy.
Manchester: S. Russell for R. Bickerstaff; Russell & Allen for R. Bickerstaff; Executives of S. Russell for G. Wilson, 1808; 1810; 1827. First edition, untouched in uniform original publisher’s bindings with original printed spine labels, of Dalton’s classic work on the atomic theory of matter. “Dalton reconstructed Newton's speculations on..... More
Item #5935
Underrättelser om barn=sjukdomar och deras bote-medel: Tilförene styckewis utgifne uti de sma Allmanachorna, nu samlade, tilökte och förbättrade.
Stockholm: Lars Salvius, 1764. First edition in book form, rare, of this seminal treatise on paediatrics. “Sir Frederic Still considered this work ‘the most progressive which had yet been written;’ it gave an impetus to research which influenced the future course of paediatrics. Rosen was particularly interested in infant feeding..... More
Item #5929
Traité de la lumière. Ou sont expliquées les causes de ce qui luy arrive dans la reflexion, & dans le refraction, et particulièrement, dans l’étrange refraction du cristal d’Islande … Avec un discours de la cause de la pesanteur.
Leiden: Pieter van der Aa, 1690. First edition, first issue, of Huygens’ path-breaking exposition of his wave theory of light; this is an extremely rare large paper presentation copy inscribed by Huygens to Pierre Daniel Huet. Huygens had developed his theory of light in 1676 and 1677, and “completed the..... More
Item #5928
Principia generalia theoriae figurae fluidorum in statu aequilibrii.
Göttingen: Dieterich, 1830. First edition, the rare separately-paginated offprint, and a fine copy in original state, of this early contribution of Gauss (1777-1855) to mathematical physics, which contains a fundamental and groundbreaking contribution to the calculus of variations. “Gauss ranks, together with Archimedes and Newton, as one of the greatest..... More
Item #5927
Six erreurs des pages 87. 118. 124. 128. 132. & 134. du livre intitulé La Perspective practique nécessaire à tous peintres, sculpteurs, graveurs, architectes, orphevres, brodeurs, tapissiers, et autres se servans du dessein. Paris: Melchior Tavernier, hydrographe, graveur & imprimeur du Roy, pour les cartes geographiques, & autres tailles douces, et Franc̜ois L’Anglois, dit Chartres, 1642. [Bound after:] DUBREUIL, Jean. La perspective practique … [With:] Diverses méthodes universelles … pour faire des perspectives … Ce qui servira de plus de response aux deux affiches du Sieur Desargues contre ladite perspective pratique. [With:] Advis Charitables sur les diverses oeuvres et feuilles volantes du Sr. Girard Desargues Lyonois publiées sous les titres: I. De Brouillon projet d’une atteinte aux événements des rencontres du Cone avec un Plan: & des contrarietez d'entre les actions des puissances ou forces. II. De Brouillon projet d’exemple d’une manière universelle, touchant la pratique du traicts à preuves, pour la couppe des pierres en l'Architecture. III. D’une manière de tracer tous quadrans d’heures égales au Soleil, au moyen du style pose: & d'une maniere universelle de poser le style, & tracer les lignes d'un quadran, &c ... [and four other works]. Ibid. La Perspective practique … Deuxième Partie [- Troisième Partie], Seconde édition.
Paris: Antoine Dezallier, 1679. First and only edition, incredibly rare, of the last (surviving) contribution published by the brilliant French mathematician Girard Desargues in the notorious ‘perspective wars’ – Desargues was “the greatest perspectivist and projective geometer of his generation” (Kemp, The Science of Art, p. 120). Desargues published his..... More
Item #5918
De sectore et radio. The description and use of the sector in three bookes. The description and use of the Crosse-Staffe in other three bookes. For such as are studious of mathematicall practise. London: Printed by William Jones, and are to be sold by John Tomson at his house in Hosier-lane, 1623. [Bound with:] ibid. Canon Triangulorum or Tables of Artificiall Sines and Tangents. London: Printed by William Jones and are to be sold by Edmund Weaver, 1623.
London: William Jones, 1623. First edition, extremely rare complete as here, of Gunter’s book on the sector and other mathematical instruments, “one of the most influential scientific works on navigation” (Waters, p. 359), the work which introduced logarithms into the science of navigation and led to the development of the..... More
Item #5913
The Principles of Quantum Mechanics.
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1930. First edition, and a fine copy with the dust-wrapper, of Dirac’s famous and hugely influential textbook, which “summarized the foundations of a new science, much of which was his own creation. It expressed the spirit of the new quantum mechanics, creating a descriptive language that we..... More
Item #5883
Traité de dynamique, dans lequel les loix de l'equilibre & du mouvement des corps sont réduites au plus petit nombre possible, & démonstrées d’une manière nouvelle, & où l’on donne un principe général pour trouver le mouvement de plusieurs corps qui agissent les uns sur les autres, d’une manière quelconque.
Paris: David l’ainé, 1743. First edition of one of the classics in the history of science, d’Alembert’s formalization of the new science of mechanics. “The ‘Treatise on Dynamics’ was d’Alembert’s first major book and it is a landmark in the history of mechanics. It reduces the laws of the motion..... More
Item #5878
Account of a new anaesthetic agent, as a substitute for sulphuric ether in surgery and midwifery.
Edinburgh; London: Sutherland and Knox, Princes Street; Samuel Highley, 32 Fleet Street, 1847 [Postscript dated 15 November 1847]. Second edition, extremely rare first issue, inscribed presentation copy, of the first use of chloroform as an anaesthetic. This is the earliest obtainable version of Simpson’s discovery – the first edition, published..... More
Item #5874
Photometria sive de mensura et gradibus luminis, colorum et umbrae.
Augsburg: Christoph Peter Detleffsen for the widow of Eberhard Klett, 1760. First edition, very rare, and the finest copy we have seen, of the foundation work of photometry, the measurement of the intensity of light, both objectively and as perceived by the eye; this is one of the rarest of..... More
Item #5873
Bestimmung des Brechungs- und Farbenzerstreuungs- Vermögens verschiedener Glasarten, pp. 193-226 and three engraved plates in: Denkschriften der königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu München für die Jahre 1814 und 1815.
München: Lentner, [1817]. First edition, journal issue, of the founding work of astrophysics, the discovery of the absorption lines in the solar spectrum; the second plate, which reproduces Fraunhofer’s drawing of these lines (etched by Fraunhofer himself), is the first illustration of the solar spectrum. “In 1802, when describing his..... More
Item #5864
![Item #5863 Zur allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie [with:] Zur allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie...](https://sophiararebooks.cdn.bibliopolis.com/pictures/5863.jpg?width=320&height=427&fit=bounds&auto=webp&v=1690453687)
Zur allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie [with:] Zur allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie (Nachtrag). Offprint from Sitzungsberichte der Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften XLIV, November 4, 1915 & XLV. XLVI, November 11, 1915.
Berlin: Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1915. First editions, very rare offprint, of the first two of the papers published in November 1915 that document Einstein’s final version of the general theory of relativity. “In the half century and more of Einstein’s work in science, one discovery stands above all as..... More
Item #5863