Basel: [colophon:] Hieronymus Froben and Nicolaus Bischof, March 1556. First edition, the Harrison D. Horblit copy, of the “first systematic treatise on mining and metallurgy and one of the first technological books of modern times” (PMM). “The twelve books of Agricola’s treatise … embrace everything connected with Renaissance mining and..... More
Item #5490

London: Joannem Billium, 1620. First edition, first issue, of Bacon’s plan for the total reconstruction of human knowledge on experimental and inductive foundations — the Devonshire–Horblit–Garden copy, and one of approximately fifteen copies printed on large paper with the crown watermark. Of the six parts projected, only the first two..... More
Item #5962

Edinburgh: G. Hamilton & J. Balfour, 1754. First edition of one of the greatest rarities in the history of science, the discovery of carbon dioxide and the foundation work of quantitative chemical analysis. “There is perhaps no other instance of a graduation thesis so weighted with significant novelty as Black’s..... More
Item #5461

Oxford: H. Hall for R. Davis & B. Took, 1680. Second edition in English (first, 1661), complete with the very rare advertisement leaf which is lacking from most copies, of this landmark in the history of science, “his most important work [where he] set down his corpuscular theory of the..... More
Item #5684

Paris: Giraudet for Bachelier, 1824. First edition, very rare, and a fine copy in original state, of Carnot’s only published work, which led directly to the first and second laws of thermodynamics. “Carnot, one of the most original thinkers among physical scientists, applied himself to the analysis of the cyclical..... More
Item #6270

Berlin: Trowibsch and son for Ferdinand Dümmler, 1832-1837. First edition, very rare complete set of all 10 volumes, of this classic work, including Vom Kriege (vols. 1-3), “the most profound exposition of the philosophy of war” (PMM). “On War is one of the most important books ever written on the..... More
Item #3777

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

Leiden: Jan Maire, 1637. First edition of the founding text of modern philosophy, in a strictly contemporary Parisian armorial binding bearing the gilt quartered arms of Louis Hesselin (1602–1662) — maître ordinaire de la Chambre aux deniers, conseiller du Roi, and surintendant des plaisirs du Roi, choreographer of the court..... More
Item #5910

Paris: [Chardon for] Cuchet, 1783-1784. First edition, second issue of the first volume (with the four-page supplement), of the first full-length account of the historic experiments with balloon flight conducted by the Montgolfier brothers in 1783, and “the first serious treatise on aerostation as a practical possibility” (PMM). The Montgolfier..... More
Item #5411

Bologna: Instituti Scientiarum, 1791. First edition, the rare offprint — preceding the journal publication and therefore the true first edition — of the work that “inaugurated the modern epoch in electricity” (Evans). Galvani’s paper was published as one of the Opuscula of the De Bononiensi scientiarum et artium instituto atque..... More
Item #6576

Leipzig: Gerh. Fleischer, 1801. First edition of the work that created modern number theory and established its twenty-four-year-old author as the foremost mathematician in Europe. Before 1801 the theory of numbers consisted of a collection of isolated results — brilliant particular theorems due to Fermat, Euler, Lagrange, and Legendre, without..... More
Item #6460

Berlin: Walter de Gruyter und Co., 1939 [1942, 1944]. First edition, offprint issues, of the three fundamental papers on nuclear fission which eventually lead to the creation of the atom bomb. “…experiments conducted in 1938 at Berlin by Hahn and Strassman [sic] were reported to Lise Meitner, an Austrian scientist..... More
Item #4152

London: Printed for W. and J. Innys & T. Woodward, 1727. First edition, and a particularly handsome copy, of this important work on plant nutrition, experimental physiology, and pneumatic chemistry. “He studied the movement of sap in plants and discovered what is known now as root pressure. He measured the..... More
Item #6427