First edition. 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..... More
Item #4140

First edition. Stockholm: P.A. Norstedt, 1884. The rare offprint issue of Arrhenius’s landmark discovery of the theory of electrolytic disassociation. Arrhenius was awarded the 1903 Nobel Prize in chemistry “in recognition of the extraordinary services he has rendered to the advancement of chemistry by his electrolytic theory of dissociation.” By..... More
Item #3160

Milan: Stamperia e Fonderia del Genio, 1804. First edition of this very important work on transplantation and experimental surgery in animals. “The publication of Degli Innesti Animali (On grafting in Animals) by Giuseppe Baronio (1759-1811) in 1804, the first account of experimental autologous skin transplantation in a ram, marks the... More
Item #4516

Paris: Rignoux, 1843. First edition, very rare inscribed presentation copy, of Claude Bernard’s doctoral thesis on the gastric juice and the process of digestion, which he defended on 7 December 1843. Although Bernard never practiced medicine, his thesis “was a work both useful to medicine and dedicated to pure science... More
Item #4132

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

Copenhagen: IIe Congrès International de la Lumière, 1932. First edition of this famous lecture, which marks Bohr’s first detailed attempt to apply concepts arising from quantum mechanics (particularly complementarity) to areas outside physics. “Here, for the first time, Bohr raised a question that was to preoccupy him, off and on..... More
Item #3792

Rotterdam: Arnoldi Leers, 1669. An early Latin edition of the ‘New Experiments Physico-Mechanical, Touching the Spring of the Air’ – Boyle’s first scientific work in which he first formulated the famous law for gases named after him. ❧Fulton 22; ref. PMM 143; Dibner 142; Fulton 14; Norman 300 (the last... More
Item #3354

Cambridge: University Press, 1913. First edition, journal issue, of this epoch-making paper, which introduced “Bragg’s law” of X-ray crystallography. “The importance of this work cannot be overstated, for it heralded a revolution in the scientific understanding of crystals and their atomic arrangements. This discovery led to many of the most..... More
Item #4549

London: T. Lewis, et al, 1801. First edition, very rare, of the first work by the great English surgeon and father of modern plastic surgery. Its remarkable coloured anatomical illustrations are much reproduced even today. Carpue began his surgical studies at St. George's Hospital in London in 1796 after being... More
Item #4505

Berlin: Springer, 1920. First edition, in the original printed wrappers, of the first description of what later became known as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, or CJD, following its independent identification by Alfons Jakob one year later. “Hans Gerhard Creutzfeldt and Alfons Jakob independently authored clinical and pathologic descriptions of a new syndrome... More
Item #3853

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

London: John Murray, 1875. Presentation copy, inscribed in Darwin’s hand, of the second and definitive edition of the only section of Darwin’s ‘big book’ on the origin of species which was printed in his lifetime. This copy is further remarkable in having manuscript revisions, undoubtedly dictated by Darwin, in the..... More
Item #4604

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 is a fine copy in an..... More
Item #4125