Basel: Hieronymus Froben, 1546. An exceptionally fine copy, completely untouched in its original binding, of ‘the first handbook of modern systematic mineralogy’ (Grolier/Horblit 2a). “Georgius Agricola (latinized from the German ‘Georg Bauer’) became interested in the theoretical and practical aspects of mining, metallurgy and geology after being appointed town doctor..... More
Item #4140

Turin: Stamperia Reale, 1837-41. First edition of one of the great rarities of chemistry, and especially rare in the original printed wrappers as here. This monumental work is the only large-scale publication of Avogadro (1776-1856), famous for his eponymous hypothesis (1811) that equal volumes of all gases at the same..... More
Item #4470

Leipzig: Leopold Voss, 1827. First edition, rare, especially in original boards as here, of von Baer’s landmark paper, in which he announced the discovery of the mammalian ovum. The idea that all animals begin as eggs had been current at least since the seventeenth century, when William Harvey, in his..... More
Item #4787

Bologna: Hieronymus de Benedictis, 10 December 1518 [colophon]. First edition of the first separate treatise on head injuries and their neurosurgical treatment. “The work originated in a dispute between Berengario (1460-1530) and some other physicians over the treatment of Lorenzo de’ Medici, who had suffered a skull fracture in battle..... More
Item #5182

Amsterdam: Caspar Commelin, 1673. First edition, rare, and a superb copy bound in contemporary red morocco, of this important work of human and comparative anatomy by the Dutch physician, chemist, and anatomist Gerard Blaes. The first 167 pages are devoted to human anatomy, followed by the description of the anatomy..... More
Item #4468

Oxford: H. Hall for T. Robinson [and London: J.G. for Thomas Robinson], 1662. Second edition, with a fine provenance, containing the first announcement of Boyle’s law; this is contained in the Defence … against the objections of Franciscus Linus, one of the two appendices appearing for the first time in..... More
Item #5165

Florence: Giorgio Marescotti, 1583. The very rare first edition of “the first true textbook of botany’ (DSB): the introduction of Cesalpino’s classification system, which anticipated Linnaeus’ system of binomial nomenclature. “Whereas other sixteenth-century botanists were content simply to compile vast haphazard catalogues of plants, Cesalpino was the first to devise..... More
Item #5133

Florence: Luigi Carlieri, 1793-1794. First edition of perhaps the greatest rarity in the history of psychiatric literature. Based on his practical experience at the hospital of S. Bonifazio in Florence, in Della pazzia Chiarugi (1759-1820) discussed the causes and treatment of insanity. Chiarugi’s work and the reforms he instituted at..... More
Item #4906

Manchester: S. Russell for R. Bickerstaff; Russell & Allen for R. Bickerstaff; Executives of S. Russell for G. Wilson, 1808-1810-1827. First edition of Dalton’s classic work on the atomic theory of matter, very rare when complete with all three parts in the original boards with the original printed spine labels..... More
Item #3950

London: Henry Colburn, 1839. First edition, and a virtually mint copy, almost entirely unopened. “The voyage of the Beagle has been by far the most important event in my life, and has determined my whole career” (Charles Darwin, Life and Letters I, p. 61). “The five years of the voyage..... More
Item #4562

London: John Murray, 1868. First edition, first issue, presentation copy, trimmed for presentation and with a slip of paper with inscription “From the Author” in Darwin’s hand pasted to the front free endpaper. The term “survival of the fittest” (borrowed at Wallace’s insistence from Herbert Spencer’s 1866 Principles of Biology)..... More
Item #4100

Paris: chez Henry Le Gras, au troisième pilier de la grand’ Salle du Palais, à L couronnée, 1649. First edition, of Descartes’s important psychological treatise, one of his most influential works, and the last work published before his death in the following year. This copy made its way to England..... More
Item #4536

Venice: Vincenzo Luchino, 1564. First edition, very rare, and a fine copy, of one of the most important of all anatomical books. “Eustachi’s first works were Ossium examen and Demotu capitis, both written in 1561 and directed against the anti-Galenism of Vesalius, for whom he had developed a unilateral hostility..... More
Item #5227