Paris: Gogué & Née de la Rochelle, 1784. First edition of Haüy’s first printed book, an exceptionally fine copy, very rare in this condition. “The foundation of the mathematical theory of crystal structure. Haüy proposed six types of primary crystal forms (parallelpiped, rhombic dodecahedron, hexagonal dipyramid, right hexagonal prism, octahedron..... More
Item #4871
Berlin: Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1882-1883. First edition, extremely rare author’s presentation offprints, of all three parts of one of the founding paper of chemical thermodynamics, along with Josiah Willard Gibbs’s 1876 paper ‘On the Equilibrium of Heterogeneous Substances.’ In these papers, Helmholtz introduced the concept of ‘free energy’ and proved..... More
Item #5192
Leipzig: Leopold Voss, 1856-60-66-67. First edition, and the only recorded copy in the original parts, of “the most important book on the physiology and physics of vision” (Grolier/Horblit), and “one of the greatest books on physiological optics” (Garrison-Morton). This work encompassed all previous research in the field, including the results..... More
Item #5275
Paris: chez l’Auteur, 1675. First edition, very rare, of the author’s famous chemical textbook. “Lemery’s highly successful Cours de chymie, which served as the textbook to his popular courses on chemistry, brought French chemical teaching out of the quasi-mystical Paracelsian tradition into the mainstream of Cartesian and atomistic natural philosophy..... More
Item #5402
Uppsala: np, 1749. First edition, extremely rare, of Linnaeus’ pioneer dissertation which created the science of ecology. “This essay was the first sketch of a science of ecology. Linnaeus used his economy-of-nature concept as an organising principle to unify an important, but previously amorphous, part of natural history. In so..... More
Item #5245
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
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
Berlin (i.e., Paris): np, 1754. First edition in French, the earliest obtainable, and very rare, of Maupertuis’ remarkable original work on the nature of heredity and evolution, which marks him out, in the words of evolutionary biologist Ernst Mayr (The Growth of Biological Thought, p. 328), as “one of the..... More
Item #5233
![Mutable loci in maize. [Offered with:] Some parallels between gene control systems in maize and...](/pictures/thumb/3910.jpg?v=1592228766)
Washington: Carnegie Institution. First edition, the very rare offprint issue, of the first of the papers documenting McClintock’s discovery of ‘control elements,’ for which she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1983. “Between 1948 and 1951, McClintock carried out a series of sophisticated experiments with variegated maize..... More
Item #3910
![Libro de la Anothomia del hō[m]bre … Muy util y necessario a los medicos y cirujanos que...](/pictures/thumb/5399.jpg?v=1630929565)
Valladolid: Sebastian Martinez, 1551. First edition, very rare, of the first separate, and first illustrated, anatomical work in the vernacular printed in Spain. “While Valverde di Hamusco’s Historia de la composicion del cuerpo humano (1556) is often credited with introducing into Spain the Vesalian anatomical iconography coupled with a vernacular..... More
Item #5399
London: Taylor and Francis, 1913-14. First edition, an exceptionally fine set of both parts of this landmark work, journal issue, in the original printed wrappers. “In 1913 and 1914, respectively, Moseley (1887-1915) published two papers which, once and for all, established a firm connection of the Periodic Table, which was..... More
Item #4607
Paris: Antoine Boudet, 1746. First edition, rare on the market, of “the first specialized book on dental prosthetics” (G & M), and perhaps the first contribution to what would later be called “cosmetic dentistry.” “Mouton, in 1746, … gave to the light a monograph, the first extant, on mechanical dentistry..... More
Item #5166
Paris: chez Martin le Jeune, 1580. First edition, and a very fine copy, of this famous rarity. “A book of great importance in the history of chemistry, hydrology, geology, and agriculture. Palissy, who is best known for his discovery of the secret of enamelling pottery, was far in advance of..... More
Item #5380
![Ars Transmutationis Metallicae ... [with, as issued] Commentarium theoricae Artis Mettalicae...](/pictures/thumb/4395.jpg?v=1592229202)
[Venice: Tacuino, 1519 (colophon of part I dated September 1518)]. First edition of one of the greatest rarities in the alchemical and chemical literature; this is an exceptionally interesting copy, bound with twelve leaves of contemporary script conveying an all-encompassing ‘tree of human endeavours’, charting the features and visually suggesting..... More
Item #4395
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: André Wechel, 1568. First edition of Paré’s extremely rare treatise on the plague, smallpox and measles, based upon his own direct observations of these diseases, “one of his best works” (Thornton, p. 63). “Having passed the winter of 1564-65 on tour in Provence with Catherine de Medici and the..... More
Item #4567
Bath; Bath & London: printed by R. Cruttwell; and sold by Cadell and Davies; printed by R. Cruttwell & sold by Cadell and Davies, London, J. Collow, 1799; 1806. First edition, rare, of this work in which Parry was the first to make the connection between angina and coronary heart..... More
Item #5028
A fascinating letter with significant scientific content, providing material for an article in the French newspaper La Revue. Pasteur begins by providing Drion with a curriculum vitae up to the end of 1854: - Louis Pasteur was born in Dole (Jura) on the 27th of December1822 - Commenced studies at..... More
Item #3809
Paris: Mallet-Bachelier, 1862. First edition, very rare offprint, inscribed by Pasteur. “The longest and most important of Pasteur’s papers on spontaneous generation, describing the series of classic experiments with bent-necked and sealed flasks by which he proved conclusively that fermentation and putrefaction are not the products of spontaneous generation, but..... More
Item #5173
Madrid: Nicolas Moya, 1899-1904. First edition, rare; this, the only known presentation copy, was exhibited at the Grolier Club in 1995. “This monumental work sets out the cytological and histological foundations of modern neurology. Ramón y Cajal’s research confirmed the neuron doctrine; his classification of neurons provided a histological basis..... More
Item #5115
Paris: Didot jeune and Knapen & Delaguette, 1772. First edition, a magnificent and very rare large paper copy (both larger and printed on thicker paper than the octavo issue), of one of the fundamental works of modern crystallography; it appeared 12 years before Haüy’s Essai d’une Théorie sur la Structure..... More
Item #5371
![Eine neue Art von Strahlen [wrapper title]. Offprint from Sitzungs-Bericht der...](/pictures/thumb/4932.jpg?v=1592230337)
Würzburg: Verlag und Druck der Stahel’schen K. Hof- und Universitäts-Buch und Kunsthandlung, 1895 [- 1896]. First editions, first issues, and fine copies from the collection of The Garden Ltd., of the rare offprints of Röntgen’s discovery of X-rays, the most important contribution to medical diagnosis in a century, and a...... More
Item #4932
Nuremberg: Johann Joseph Fleischmann, [1753]-1758. First edition of one of the most beautiful works devoted to frogs and toads, with a strikingly beautiful frontispiece after the author, preface by Alfred von Haller and plates depicting all the then known species of frogs and toads indigenous to the locality of Nuremberg..... More
Item #5376
Arosia [Västerås]: Eucharius Lauringer, 1653. First edition of “one of the great medical rarities” (Norman), documenting the discovery of the lymphatic system; this is possibly the only copy in private hands. “Inspired by Harvey’s De motu cordis, anatomists in the second half of the seventeenth century were drawn to the..... More
Item #5101
![Dell'anotomia [sic], et dell'infirmità del cavallo. Carlo RUINI](/pictures/thumb/5395.jpg?v=1630929527)
Bologna: Heirs of Giovanni Rossi, 1598. First edition, first issue, of this sumptuous work, presented by the author in its year of publication and of his own death. This is “one of the great rarities of early zootomical literature” (Cole, p. 90), with illustrations considered comparable to those in Vesalius’..... More
Item #5395